Amazon tells mobe devs: Bring your app-strokers to us, we'll look after you
Amazon will kick back six per cent of sales to developers selling real products within their mobile apps, as the online retailer extends the Associate programme already used by websites.
Amazon Associates pays commission to sites which direct shoppers to the online behemoth's site. In 2008 a report from Stanford University …
Eggheads turn Motorola feature phone into CITYWIDE GSM jammer
Berlin boffins have spotted a procedural flaw in the long-lived GSM protocol and created an exploit around it which can knock out a mobile network or even target an individual subscriber in the same city.
The exploit, presented at the 22nd USENIX Security Symposium last week, takes advantage of the fact that GSM lets phones …
ISPs scramble to explain mouse-sniffing tool
Sky Broadband has been caught using JavaScript to track every click and shuffle on its support pages, but it's not alone: other ISPs have also admitted recording every frustrated wobble of the mouse on their support pages.
Readers at ISP Review spotted Sky using a JavaScript tool called SessionCam to record rodent tracks on its …
Meet the world's one-of-a-kind ENORMO barge-bowling bridge of Falkirk
Proving it's not just the Victorians who can make huge structures in steel, the Falkirk Wheel can lift six canal boats 25 metres in one go, moving them from one waterway to another.
The Forth & Clyde Canal, running across central Scotland, used to be connected to the Union Canal, linking Glasgow to Edinburgh via a stairway of 11 …
Amazon spaffs MYSTERY private Wi-Fi waves all over Apple's orchard
Amazon has been testing its own radio network, seeing if Globalstar's private Wi-Fi technology fits the Amazon business model, and if customers would pay for better wireless networking.
The news comes from the usual "people with knowledge" who've been talking to Bloomberg about Amazon building a test network in Apple's home town …
Ubuntu Edge Linux mobe: 'Made you look,' crows Shuttleworth
Canonical's attempt to raise £20.5m ($32m) to create a Ubuntu Linux smartphone wasn't the failure it appeared to be: despite only managing two fifths of its fundraising target by its own deadline, the Edge handset project was a hugely successful advertisement for the Ubuntu distribution.
That's, of course, according to Canonical …
Google cursed its own phones with wacked Wi-Fi, say Nexus users
The latest tweak to Android is fitting badly onto Google's own hardware, with the Nexus 4 reportedly fudging Wi-Fi, crashing out and refusing to run previously compatible applications.
The first problem surfaced within days of the update being made public, with eager adopters complaining that their handsets had stopped …
Need the loo AND need to build a website? There's an app for that
Geocities saviour Jimdo has launched an iOS app, allowing instant fanboi-friendly website creation for those moments when inspiration strikes and a Facebook post just isn't enough.
Want to set up a new website, but can't be bothered to boot up a computer – let alone learn HTML? Jimdo will fix that with a WYSIWYG iOS app which …
No signal in Seascale? Countryside Alliance wants to hook you up
Taking a break from the promotion of bloodsports, rural campaign group the Countryside Alliance is looking for help mapping mobile phone not-spots in the hope of embarrassing operators into filling them.
The wax-jacket-wearing organisation is asking those who care about rural mobile coverage to install Root Metrics on their …
Reg hack battles Margaret Thatcher's ghost to bring broadband to the Highlands
Scottish broadband remains an elusive dream for many, despite the money being poured into BT's coffers, but pigeonhole a Reg reporter and you might just get lucky.
That's what Ronny did. He grabbed your correspondent at a ward meeting where reps from Community Broadband Scotland were polling householders for their opinions – to …
Tech quango coughs £800k to hook your child up to Internet of Things
Over the summer term eight UK schools will get £800,000 worth of sensors, servers and cloud to inspire them into learning about and getting interested in the Internet of Things.
The money comes from the Technology Strategy Board, a government quango which prefers to be known as "Innovate UK", and will be spent developing …
Battery-free e-ink screen grabs screenshots from smartphones
University boffins from Washington and Massachusetts joined forces with those at Intel to create an e-ink screen which can catch a smartphone screenshot – without needing a battery.
The screen catches energy over the NFC standard, the pay-by-bonk technology built into the latest models of smartphone. That power usually drives a …
Wow, the future is HERE: Charge your phone (wirelessly) in your CAR
A range of General Motors cars will feature wireless charging next year, but don't expect to charge a Galaxy Nexus or Nokia handset as GM is backing yet another juice-over-the-air standard.
The feature will be built into dashboards from 2014, according to Detroit News. Just place a phone on the pad and it will start charging, …
Microsoft shoehorns Skype into Outlook.com - we quickly kick the tyres
Microsoft has slotted voice-chat app Skype into Outlook.com, melding email and telephony into a single platform - which almost works smoothly.
The functionality comes with a browser plugin, and makes video and voice calling as simple as sending an email, aping Google's Hangout platform but with Skype's infrastructure.
Outlook …
Microsoft announces execution date for failed QR code-killer
Microsoft Tag, Redmond's alternative to the QR Code which never took off, is scheduled to die on 19 August, 2015, following Old Yeller out behind the cowshed.
Launched just over three years ago, the Microsoft Tag is a proprietary version of a QR Code with some additional functionality and better colours. As QR Codes resolutely …
Blighty street has hottest Wi-Fi hotspot hottie in Europe: We reveal where
London's Oxford Street has Europe's greatest density of Wi-Fi hot-spots - and almost a quarter of them are openly accessible to the public. That's according to a new study that also puts the UK behind the US in terms of free wireless connectivity.
Across America 32 per cent of Wi-Fi access points offer web browsing gratis to …
So fondleable Windows 8 didn't work out so well: Why not try it IN 3D?
A San Francisco-based startup has come up with a gadget it claims can turn any surface into a 3D interface for your PC or mobile device – and it wants $100,000 in funding to get the thing off the drawing board.
Haptix Touch is a camera-based detection system. The point is to replace the mouse with fingers waved around within the …
Just add creepiness: Google Search gets even more personal
Google will soon be interrogating its users' Gmail, Google Calendar and Google+ accounts to try and predict the questions they enter into Google Search, bringing the Chocolate Factory's Now functionality into the mainstream.
The personalised search is being rolled out slowly, with the US getting it first, but it will respond to …
Telefonica and Arqiva set to mop up BILLIONS in smart meter cash
Companies who win upcoming government contracts to install smart utility meters across the UK are set to pocket over £2bn in public money.
The money will come from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and will be spent over the next 15 years, at which point the UK is expected to have 20 million smart meters in operation. …
Auntie touts e-babysitting ... and no £15,000 in-app purchase shocks
The BBC's kiddie TV wing, CBeebies, has turned out a "free" collection of mobile games for parents happy to let Captain Barnacles and the Alphablocks rear their children.
The games, bundled into the CBeebies Playtime app for Android and iOS, come from the broadcast side of the corporation so are funded from the television …
O2 tears wraps off £26-a-month mobe sport, music, games (and 4G)
O2 has joined EE and Vodafone in using 4G to justify a jump in pricing, to £26 a month, leaving Three the only UK network selling connectivity rather than technology.
O2's 4G pricing in the UK will start at £26 a month for one gigabyte of data a month, aping EE's tariff and matching Vodafone on price. Voda customers get twice …
Baidu shells out $1.9bn for Android app distie in 'China's biggest IT deal'
Baidu has signed a $1.9bn deal to buy Android app distributor 91 Wireless, giving the Chinese search giant a second Android app store and, critically, a bigger footprint in the gaming business.
Chinese search giant Baidu announced its intention to buy 91 Wireless last month, despite already having its own Android application …
Boffins harvest TV, mobile signals for BATTERY-FREE comms
Radio boffins from the University of Washington have created tags and readers which reflect and feed off ambient radio frequency energy for communications - without needing a power source.
The team calls the technology "ambient backscatter" and reckons it could connect up the much-heralded Internet of Things without either party …
REVEALED: Simple 'open sesame' to unlock your HOME by radiowave
A pair of security researchers probing the Z-Wave home-automation standard managed to unlock doors and disable sensors controlled by the technology.
Behrang Fouladi and Sahand Ghanoun took a long hard look at Z-Wave for their presentation at last week's Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas. The wireless standard dominates …
Should UK tear Wi-Fi a new one at 5GHz? Speak your brains, says Ofcom
Ofcom, Blighty's fearless watchdog of the airwaves, wants to know if Wi-Fi needs more space.
The regulator is willing to allocate more radio spectrum to wireless networking - and wants Brits to be able to use those frequencies without the regulator having to auction them off to a corporate giant.
The consultation is, strictly …
Web ad giant (Google) pops Adwords into Maps for iOS and Android
Google has finally woken up and integrated Adwords into its mobile mapping app, pushing paid results onto the top of the heap along with directions guiding customers to your door.
The ad addition came with the last update to Google Maps for Android and iOS. It switches on this week with ads popping up at the bottom when one …
Sources spill CEO Heins' beans: BlackBerry 'open' to going private
The board of BlackBerry is considering a private buyout of the company, saying that delisting would get shareholders off its back and give it freedom to move.
The rumour comes from Reuters, which reports "several sources" claiming that discussions have been had with various private equity companies, and enterprise computing …
Moneybags pour shower of gold on new mega-precise GPS system
A GPS-based satellite navigation system promises accuracy to within an inch by December this year – to those willing to stick a thousand dollars into the pot.
Swift Navigation, makers of the super-accurate satnav, say it uses existing Real Time Kinematic (RTK) navigation techniques to ensure its pinpoint accuracy. Rather than …
Tu Me to go: Tu Go to be Telefonica's 'NEXT BIG AMAZEBALLS' for voice
Telefonica's freebie VoIP platform Tu Me will be shuttered next month as the mobile network pushes customers towards, er, Tu Go.
Tu Me came out of Jajah, the internet voice-call outfit Telefonica bought in 2009, but it was never intended to be more than a stepping stone towards a brave new future of telephony as a service. That …
Apple: Of course we stalk your EVERY move. iOS 7 has a new map to prove it
The latest beta of Apple's new iOS 7 for iThings features a "Frequent Locations" map, showing where fanbois have been hanging out lately for those too hip to remember the happening joints.
The feature is buried deep in the privacy settings, but if one has Location Services enabled it shows a map recording all the places where …
British ankle-biters handed first mobe at the age of SEVEN - Ofcom
Children receiving their first mobile phone are, on average, just seven-and-a-half years old, claims the latest survey – although these figures contradict official stats from Ofcom.
The new survey comes from mobilephonechecker.co.uk, which asked just over 1,000 parents the age of their kids when their hapless carers gave them a …
E-reader barons file FCC plea to opt out of disabled-friendly regs
E-reader manufacturers have petitioned to exempt themselves from accessibility regulations applied to communication services - and the FCC wants to know what you think about that.
The claim comes from Amazon, Kobo, and Sony, who all claim that browsing or e-mail capability is just a distraction as their devices exist purely to …
Vodafone flashes bulging package at Brits: New 4G service to rival EE, O2
Vodafone's new 4G mobile broadband package, announced today for the UK, will include live football or a Spotify Premium subscription, plus three months of unlimited downloads and calls - all for £26 a month.
Voda has effectively updated its "Red" tariff by adding a fiver a month onto the price, and including 4G connectivity and …
Rival French mobe firms sue Orange and Vivendi's SFR for €1.4bn
Dominant French mobile operators Orange and SFR have been hit with a compensation claim from their diminutive rivals after a court ruled their offer of free calls was anti-competitive.
Between 2005 and 2008 Orange and SFR offered customers free calls within the same network, forcing third-position operator Bouygues to offer loss …
See a young Brit's mobe? 55% chance it has nekkid selfies on it, claims poll
Roughly half the young adult Brits polled in a survey have admitted to keeping naughty pictures of themselves or others on their mobile phones. One in ten confessed to accidentally sending dirty photos to the wrong person.
And only a third said they protected their pocket stroker with a PIN or password.
More than one in two (52 …
Hey, you know Android apps can 'access ALL' of your Google account?
The single-click Google account login for Android apps is a little too convenient for hackers, according to Tripwire's Craig Young, who has demonstrated a flaw in the authentication method.
The mechanism is called “weblogin”, and basically it allows users to use their Google account credentials as authentication for third-party …
BlackBerry slides crown jewels into Samsung: BBM Android app touted
BlackBerry is sharing its crown jewels - BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) - with non-BlackBerry devices for the first time: and the lucky punters are Samsung fandroids in Africa.
The instant-messaging app will be free, compatible with the Android-powered Galaxy range of handsets, and offer all the important BBM functionality including …
Shack in flat-pack bric-a-brac lack flap? Whack on this 3D flat-pack app
Ikea, champion of the disposable Allen key, is launching an app to show how its self-assembly furniture would look in your home – if you could put it together properly.
The new software, available for Android and iOS gadgets at the end of this month, overlays 3D models of selected flat-packed firewood onto live video of one's …
Bloke in shed starts own DAB radio station - with Ofcom's blessing
A three-month experiment in Brighton has proved that Digital Audio Broadcasting can be cheap and easy to transmit, opening the way to community and local stations – and perhaps a pirate or two.
The experiment was carried out by Ofcom broadcast specialist Rashid Mustapha, though in his own time and at his expense. Despite that, …
Mobe networks hacked phones to fix SIM hijack flaw, says bug-finder
A terrifying weakness at the heart of global mobile phone security has turned into a damp squib: networks scrambled so fast to patch the flaw that the researcher behind the discovery isn't making the details public.
It's claimed five carriers pushed out fixes to their customers by exploiting the bug.
The flaw was supposed to …
You CAN'T be a Silicon Roundabout hipster... you don't have Bluetooth socks
Hipsters concerned that their footwear is lagging in the cool stakes will soon be ordering Bluetooth-enabled socks, even if they do make them look like a young offender with an electronic tag.
The Sensoria sock monitors impact across the toes and heel of the foot as the wearer runs, providing helpful advice about stride and …
Ultimate Radio Deathmatch: US Navy missile-defence radar vs 4G mobile mast
On Monday the US Navy will fire up its mighty, six-megawatt AN/SPY-1 raygun radar while academics run an LTE mobile-data base station in the same band, so both sides can establish if coexistence is a workable proposition.
AN/SPY-1 is used as part of the Aegis anti-missile system mounted on, amongst other platforms, the US Navy's …
Mobes, fondleslabs, web sending Brit families back to THE FIFTIES - Ofcom
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom's latest research shows living-room TV watching is on the rise: picture families gathering round in front of the goggle box even if half their eyes are elsewhere.
The living room is regaining its dominant position as the nerve-centre of TV viewing for families - as fondleable tablets and phones …
FBI spooks use MALWARE to spy on suspects' Android mobes - report
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is using mobile malware to infect, and control, suspects' Android handsets, allowing it to record nearby sounds and copy data without physical access to the devices.
That's according to "former officers" interviewed by the Wall Street Journal ahead of privacy advocate Christopher Soghoian's …
Base stations get high on helium, ride MUTANT kite-balloons at the football
A team of European boffins has hoisted a mobile network base station into the air from a balloon/kite combination. Yet unlike similar schemes, this one is intended for everyday use, not just for emergencies.
In a paper published by Cornell University, the team demonstrates that modern small cell technology can be combined with …
Nokia sidles up to Qualcomm, hands over bulging map package
Nokia Here will be sharing its global floorplan database with Qualcomm, putting indoor maps together with indoor positioning in an assault on the last place one can get lost.
Here is Nokia's mapping division. It has accumulated a huge database of airports, museums and venues which it will share with Qualcomm in the new deal. …
First Austin, now live across the US: Watch Americans pay by bonk
US pay-by-bonk platform ISIS will go live across the US later this year following the pilots in Salt Lake City and Austin, as network operators make their big play for big data.
ISIS is jointly owned by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, and has been trialling its electronic wallet for the last nine months. Now it's going national with …
The O2 4G Lottery: Are YOU in one of the three LUCKY cities?
O2's 4G network will go live in London, Leeds and Bradford this month - followed by ten more cities by the end of the year. The rollout will end EE's virtual monopoly on high-speed mobile internet connectivity.
O2 customers will need a new SIM and a handset compatible with the 800MHz radio band that O2 bought in the last …
HALF of air passengers leave phones on ... yet STILL no DEATH PLUNGE
Almost half of UK flyers admit not bothering to switch their phones to flight mode (or off) while in the air, despite the dire warnings. While most just forget, the rest think they know better.
The numbers come from holiday booking outfit sunshine.co.uk, who asked almost 2,000 UK flyers about their mobile phone use and found …
Kevin Bacon avoids slapped wrist after TV pipe-fatness claims
EE has received a stern talking to from the Advertising Standards Authority for website claims of "superfast" connectivity, though when Kevin Bacon says the same thing on TV that's OK.
The difference is the context: on TV Kevin's words are accompanied by numbers and comparisons to 3G, while the web ad just made the "superfast" …
