A Tesco listing, which has now been pulled, declared the name for this year’s Call of Duty release ‘Ghosts’. The listing also leaked the cover art for PS3 and Xbox 360, pictured above.
Shortly after, Target released an advert offer involving a discount for CoD: Ghosts reservations, that stated the release date to be 5th November, roughly in line with Activision’s previous releases for the Call of Duty franchise.
In a letter to Prime Minister Cameron, signed by no fewer than ten academics in the cybersecurity field, HM Government is asked to drop the controversial Communications Data Bill.
The Bill, which has been the subject of much debate and controversy, would – if passed – require telecommunications operators to record “communications data” for a maximum period of 12 months (or longer if notified that the data may be required for ongoing legal proceedings) so that officials could trawl through the data if ordered by the Secretary of State, through Ofcom. (more…)
CrowdMed is an online tool that uses algorithms to analyse crowdsourced diagnoses for your illness, in an attempt to come up with an accurate diagnosis for you to cope with accordingly – it obviously cannot issue you a prescription.
The startup is led by Jared Heyman of Infosurv, and is at present backed by several VCs; they list NEA, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, SV Angel, and Y Combinator on their website. (more…)
The Leap Motion controller, which allows you to control your PC or Mac through wild gestures, is all set to launch next month, and now Google is ready to join the party with an update to Google Earth that allows gesture control with the Leap Motion controller.
Earth will be available in Leap’s appstore ‘Airspace’, alongside offerings such as AutoCAD, Clear, and Cut-the-Rope, among others.
Airspace will launch on Windows 7 & 8, as well as OS X, with Linux support to follow.
Google has started shipping Glass to those lucky enough to be chosen as ‘Explorers’; given early access to the product we’ve all been waiting for.
In order to get a nice database full of compatible apps in time for wider launch later this year, they’ve also released documentation for so-called Mirror API (geddit?) for Java, PHP, and Python.
At this stage, developers are not allowed to charge for their software, or include any advertising. They are also prohibited from distributing their software anywhere but Google’s official channels. (more…)
Want the new iPhone every year, but stuck on a two-year contract?
O2s latest initiative, dubbed ‘Refresh’, allows its customers to upgrade their phone before the end of their 24-month contract. They attempt to make the model work, by splitting the contract into two plans:
When its customer wants to upgrade their phone, O2 simply require that they pay off the remainder of the phone (which is of course reasonable), though they can then trade it back in under ‘O2 Recycle’ for up to a £260 reduction on their new phone plan – though eBay may prove more fruitful.
The remainder of the Airtime Plan, however, is wiped clean – on the understanding that your paying for a new plan (which will restart a new 24-month period) – with no Early Termination Fee (ETF).
O2 Refresh is available on certain smartphones only, and on three different ‘Airtime’ plans, priced at £12, £17, and £22.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched an investigation into purchases made inside free games on mobile applications and the web; specifically aimed at children.
The OFT is concerned that such free games may be misleading children who, naively believing the world is free, click a way purchasing gems, fruit, fruity gems, and coins; all with the real money on the account linked to the device.
They cite that 80 of the top 100 grossing Android applications in the UK are free, and earning those top grossing positions through obscene amounts spent on in-app purchases. They also note the growing number of 5-15 year olds with smartphones, and are particularly concerned that the games may “include ‘direct exhortations’ to children – a strong encouragement to make a purchase, or to do something that will necessitate making a purchase”.
The report is ongoing and expected to publish its findings by October of this year.
Full PR after the break: (more…)
For all the excitement across social media in anticipation for Google’s latest venture, Glass, each post is also awash with complaints from those to whom glasses are already a thing they can’t live without – unlike those of us who merely aspire to be reliant on a pair of spectacles.
It has been widely expected that Google Glass would be able to be fitted to more standard eyewear, they even told The Verge that they were working with spectacle manufacturers to release compatible Google ‘shades.
Joshua Topolsky of The Verge with Google Glass, and sunglass attachment.
Google Glass is a really exciting product, at least to some, and I certainly include myself in that boat. Glass uses a small and transparent micro-emissive display to provide an overlay to your natural view, alert you of notifications from your smartphone, and render turn-by-turn navigation, right in front of you as you walk.
Joshua Topolsky of The Verge got to try out Google Glass, and it is certainly worth reading about his experience.
In January Facebook launched free calls from its Messenger app as a trial in Canada, and recently rolled it out to the US too.
Now, Facebook has launched the feature within the main Facebook app (as opposed to purely the Messenger companion) – making Facebook the newest entrant to the VoIP game, but also the one with the most users, and probably the one with the most real phone numbers, too.
If Facebook rolls this feature out internationally, then network providers worldwide could see a very real shift from minute to data usage among their customers.
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