This week you’ll have likely come across two new acronyms: SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act). They are new powers being discussed in the US congress which will give content owners the power to shut down any website that is facilitating or involved in piracy online at any level.

The problem…

There’s no doubt that piracy is a massive problem, and if left unchecked, is likely to get worse. Major TV companies and record companies are lobbying the US government tackle the problem. They’re demanding that the US government gives them the ability to shut down sites that are involved in this complex and illicit crime. The major problem with SOPA isn’t what it’s set out to try and do, but the way it’s been implemented.

The end of a free internet?

Traditionally, the web has been the one place where censorship doesn’t get a look in. That ethos changing goes against the Internet’s fundamental principles. This week many of the world’s most-loved websites went dark in protest to the bills, which would have the power to censor the Internet. For many opponents the Internet can’t be policed, and shouldn’t be policed, in such a scatter-gun approach. There’s no doubt that Wikipedia, who went dark for 24 hours, are in no way supporting piracy – but are fearful of what might happen once a country takes it upon themselves to be the world’s police online. If SOPA passes, all an IP owner would need to do is send a letter to his company of choice in the US — be it Google, PayPal, the ISP, even Visa or MasterCard — and have it claim a “good faith belief” that the target site in question has infringing content on it. The recipient of said “belief” would have just five days to either comply with the order, or challenge it in court.

Who’s making money out of piracy?

Interestingly despite lack of any working legislation Megaupload was shutdown by the FBI for wide scale piracy today – which leads us to ask the question: do we even need SOPA & PIPA? Well, sites like Megaupload have always stated that they are not involved in piracy and do not condone its users uploading copyrighted material. But, according to the FBI they know full well what their services are being used for. The FBI has stated that their business model is a simple one: the more their users upload files to be shared for free, the more money they make, by selling unlimited downloads for their service.

The main problem with Megaupload is that the money they’re making from the service never filters down the labels, studios or content creators. Sites like the Pirate Bay are the same. Although, they never shared content for the purpose of making money, they do it because the believe that everything in the public domain should be shared freely without any recourse. Megaupload, on the otherhand, have taken this model one step further: they’ve monetised it. Profiteering of illegal downloads to such a degree that they are making colossal amounts of money, money that should be going to content creators.

What’s wrong with our current laws?

At the moment piracy is so widespread and happening in so many countries’ that the current laws only allows for content owners to go after the downloader, and not the facilitator. If Universal Studios or the MPAA tried to sue everyone who has watched a downloaded TV show or film this would obviously be incredibly impractical and the legal bills would be astronomical. It has worked, and people have been prosecuted, but it will never solve the problem.

Essentially, both the SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) will allow content owners to go after the sites that are profiteering from the downloading of illegal files. This, at the moment, would mean many of the world’s leading filesharing locker sites would be in the firing line. Sites like Mediafire and Megaupload (which got shutdown today) would almost certainly be shutdown or blocked, even if many of its users are using the sites in a legal way. It has always been argued by these websites that it would be impossible to know the exact origin of all files and content on its servers, so they essentially work from a position of ignorance. With SOPA and PIPA they would no longer be able to say: “Well, we just didn’t know”. The main issue many have taken with SOPA and PIPA is the collateral damage these new powers would create. How would it effect small internet startups? Many opponents aren’t in favour of piracy, but, want a free and open internet – something SOPA & PIPA would threaten. If you happened to mention an infringing link, video, or torrent on a site or service you happen to use, the said service would be legally obliged to remove it. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Tumblr, YouTube, you name it — everywhere on the web that has feet in the US would be at risk of some form of internet censorship.

Will SOPA & PIPA solve piracy?

It’s doesn’t take a genius to recognise that no amount of legislation will solve piracy, for many internet savy people a new pragmatic approach is needed. If technology start-up companies like Spotify or Netflix can wean illegal downloaders off sites like Megaupload & Pirate Bay, and into legitimate channels of distribution then eventually illegal downloading would be significantly reduced overtime. It’s clear that throughout the world consumers feel that they aren’t getting value for money, or, in many cases, aren’t able to get the content they want, at a time they want, for a fair price. And if no one will give them this, the choice is a simple one: get it for free.

What other approaches could work?

Services like Spotify & Netflix have proved so popular that it’s clear that many people are willing to pay for content, but at a price and model they’re happy with. Quite often when you buy a CD only a fraction of the money actually goes to the artist. If the royalty system was overhauled and labels and studios were more open to new ways of delivering content and sharing the spoils – then we wouldn’t be in the state we’re in at the moment.

The archaic way some content providers are run means they’ve been playing catch-up with a digital revolution, and instead of embracing it, they’re still fighting it. The two sides will have to focus on creating a proper and fair process by which criminal websites are appropriately policed, while ensuring adequate protection for those who are wrongly or unfairly accused.

Intellectual property has always been a bit of a minefield online – to think that you can shut down a site down and solve piracy is looking at the problem through rose-tinted glasses. As soon as one is shut, ten will reappear, that is until the demand is diverted to legal channels. This legislation will simply push piracy even further underground. SOPA has been halted, at least temporarily, following opposition from the White House, while PIPA is still under consideration by the US Senate.

One thing for sure is this won’t be the last time you have heard of SOPA, PIPA or online piracy.

Will SOPA & PIPA Actually Stop Online Piracy ? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Web-based CRM Systems are becoming an essential feature of all business marketing plans as a way of keeping your myriads of client data up-to-date, and by keeping track of which marketing campaigns work well and which ones bomb.

While implementing a CRM is all well and good to discuss, getting into a meeting room with a CRM company, hearing their exciting pitch and fainting when they tell you the cost of personalising their software to your company is something most businesses, particularly small businesses, prefer to avoid.

An alternative to buying your own CRM System is to go to the cloud. Online CRMs work well for small businesses because they’re easy to implement, cost-effective and you don’t need your own massive servers to store all of your growing data- they keep it all for you via the inter-webs.

It will still take a bit of time to get all your data uploaded, but once that’s done you’re ready to send flyers to all your contacts over the age of 60, email all your contacts over the age of 25 and Facebook all of your contacts over the age of 9.

Payment-wise there are usually various amounts you can pay per month or per year, depending on how in-depth you’d like your cloud-based service.

Usually online CRM companies will charge you per user, so it’s important you initially figure out who in your team is likely to hang around for the next few years. If someone in your company who is a nominated subscriber does leave, it’s usually no drama to change over the name on your account, or simply pretend to be them Facebook-hack style.

So if you’re sold on a software as a service (SaaS) solution, what are the best online CRM companies out there?

5. WiredContact.co.uk

WiredContact is a UK-based hosted CRM company that prides itself on UK-based support whenever you need to get in touch with them.

Its service offers the usual CRM tools such as managing and reporting on leads, sales opportunities, the activities of all of your sales reps and reports on your won / lost / pending ratios.

A nice touch to WiredConnect’s service is that you can easily tailor your interface to suit your business. By providing standard HTML-based templates you can alter the look and feel of your platform and choose from a range of custom views to suit your eccentric tastes.

Unlike some other CRM providers, WiredConnect will let you use your own servers to host data if you prefer which is one way to keep your fees down.

The more licences your company buys, the lower the cost for each licence, so 1-4 licences will set you back around £278 per user, per year, but 10+ licences will cost a noticeably less £174 per user, per year.

4. Lunar CRM

Lunar CRM may not be the biggest online CRM name in the business, but it’s local based in Coventry rather than California, and it’s small enough to still provide quite a personalised service as opposed to bigger US online CRM providers like ZohoCRM (which on a side note, I’ve not included in this list due to its ridiculous extra storage costs)

While it’s small, Lunar CRM offers a product to rival the big boys with the ability to compare suppliers and their product performance, breakdown your relationship with different customers and see which staff are doing a cracking job at selling ice to the Eskimos.

If something off the shelf isn’t exactly what your business needs, Lunar CRM can also design and build a bespoke system to fit your difficult needs, and also offers technical support 24/7.

Because they’re so boutique, you will have to contact them directly for a quote but we hear they’re priced in a similar vein to Salesforce.

3. SugarCRM

SugarCRM is one of those Californian-based companies, but has a UK branch Sugar UK supporting its service across the Atlantic. Sugar UK has engineers based in picturesque Surrey so support time differences won’t be a problem.

If you’re looking at a bit of a combo package, SugarCRM is an online CRM system that can bundle a VoIP phone system to integrate your company’s communication with customers directly into SugarCRM.

This means you can access features including click-to-dial and recorded-call logging. It also saves you money on an expensive PBX with everything hosted and managed on the network.

There are three different editions you can subscribe to, starting with the “Community” plan which is at the very reasonable cost of free. You do get what you pay for though and for a CRM system comparable to others on the market, you will probably want the next cheapest “Professional” plan at £235 per user per month.

For the extra cash you will get features like manual Outlook integration, sales forecasting, market analysis and field-level security. If you pay around double that amount for the “Enterprise” plan, you get some cool Android, iPhone and Blackberry apps at your fingertips plus a few other nifty features.

2. Open CRM

Open CRM is another online system option for your business, and what makes this company interesting is that regardless of your subscription level, all customers have access to all of Open CRM’s available features.

There is no disabled functionality so you’re never compelled to upgrade your account, or change your business strategy to fit within a set of limiting features so often associated with a cheap-option plan.

What Open CRM has going for it is incredibly competitive pricing. Ten users each with 10GB data storage and a ridiculous 2TB file storage will set you back £125 per month or £1500 per annum. Compared to big guns Salesforce.com, 10 users with 1GB data storage and 6GB file storage starts at £450 a month or £5400 per year.

While that may seem like an unnecessary amount of storage, the guys over at Open CRM take the view that as a business your storage needs will only ever grow, so any additional storage costs should be considered from the start.

If you somehow find your terabytes a bit too limiting, you can increase your data storage allocation with an additional 500GB for £15 per month, or 1TB for £25.00 per month, or if you’ve got high-res videos of every single person in your database, an extra 1.5TB will set you back £32.00.

1. Salesforce.com

One company that has done a very good job getting itself known in the market is Salesforce. The fact that its targeted marketing works so well is indicative of how good their systems are.

Apart from its standard CRM offerings, Salesforce.com has a number of cloud apps and platforms to help businesses keep on top of the game when it comes to interacting with potential customers.

It provides a private social network for your business called “Chatter”, a means to monitor your social media engagement called “Radian6”, as well as the world’s first enterprise cloud database, creatively called “Database.com”.

Salesforce.com has a swag of impressive clients making use of its services including O2, Boots, Confused.com and even the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

For an entry-level very basic system, you only need to fork out £10.20 per user, per month, but the £45 per user per month offers a wealth more of the standard CRM options your business will most likely benefit from.

Top Five Web-Based CRM Systems for UK Business is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The new upgrade will be available to about three million of its customers, who subscribe to its 10Mbps service. The company’s total subscription base spans 4.1 million users. Subscribers of its 20Mb tier will also see their speed increasing. In their case, the speed will be tripled to 60Mb, whereas 30Mb plan subscribers will get 60Mb speed.

Virgin also announced that it will double the speed for 10Mb plan subscribers to 20Mb. Subscribers with 50Mb-100Mb slab plan will now be able to surf the net at 100Mb-120Mb speed. This speed means that you should be able to download a hi-def full length movie in just five minutes.

Talking about Virgin Media’s future plans, its chief executive officer Neil Berkett, said, “As people are increasingly doing more online, and getting connected to the internet with lots of different devices, having a fast, reliable broadband service should not be a luxury.”

Virgin Media will be funding its project from the proceeds of its stake sale in UKTV. The company was holding 50% share in UKTV, which it has now sold to Scripps, a US company.

Virgin Planning to Augment Its Broadband Network Speed is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Facebook held the top spot in ‘Top 10 US Social Networks & Blogs’ list. Twitter has been placed third, while Blogger is sandwiched between these two. Social networking site of yore, Myspace.com, also managed to make it to top 5, while LinkdeIn has been placed sixth. Google+ holds eighth position.

The ‘Top 5 Smartphone Manufacturers’ list also contains usual suspects. The top honor goes to Apple, with e9 percent market share, while HTC, with e1 percent share of the pie occupied second spot. RIM BlackBerry, despite its recent setbacks, came third, with 17 percent market share. Samsung and Motorola, filled fourth and fifth spot with 11 percent market share each.

Nielsen Presents “Tops of 2011” list: Facebook, Google Take Top Spots is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

What’s the worst thing about Spotify? It doesn’t pay that much to artists. No. It’s devaluing music? No. It’s the fact that the service is pretty poor when it come to music discovery. There’s so much music, that often, it’s hard to find the hidden gems – sure you can use your friends recommendations – but what happens when all your friends just listen to Adele or Jay Z.

Well Spotify has recognised this shortcoming and it’s plan to solve it is to create a new apps platform. A system of apps that look to enhance the experience of users listening to music. It will allow developers and media partners to build apps to run within the company’s desktop application – serving tickets, reviews and recommendations to Spotify users.

The Announcement

The announcement was made last week at a New York press conference, and see’s the Swedish company follow Apple and Facebook’s lead with their own Apps eco-system, a dramatic change for the company. But, interestingly, the apps that are going to be available on Spotify won’t be sold for a profit, in fact they won’t be sold at all – meaning developers will have to get a little creative in order to monetise the system.

Chief Executive Daniel EK said that Spotify will bring a host of new features to the software; such as recommendations, ticketing, editorial content thanks to partnerships with the Guardian, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Songkick, Last FM and TuneWiki. For example, The Guardian’s app brings album reviews from both the Guardian and Observer into Spotify’s service.

“Today, we become a totally integrated platform,” said Ek. “We’re opening up our platform in a way that lets you curate the apps that you want, and really make Spotify yours … This is the beginning of something game-changing for digital music.”

The apps will of course sit within Spotify’s desktop client, although Ek did state that if successful, the platform may extend to its mobile apps in the future too. The apps will be available for free to paying users of the service.

Developers will have to go through the usual hoops to get their apps on the service. They will have to submit their ideas to Spotify for approval before building and launching anything. This should mean that the Spotify App store won’t be full of useless apps – something Google failed to do in the early days of Android. The premiss of the system will be to add valued content alongside Spotify’s music.

Spotify will be using the apps platform itself, to add new features to the service – starting with a Facebook-style news ticker showing what friends are doing on the service. Ek said: ”We have a lot more in the works. But more than anything we really look forward to being surprised by developers,” he said. “We believe they’re going to deliver amazing new apps within the Spotify platform.”

Recent Criticisms

Ek didn’t talk about the recent criticisms of streaming music payouts to artists during the event, but he did defend the company’s business model, in response to a question about whether its payments to music rights holders risk becoming a bigger burden as more people use Spotify.

“For us, we don’t feel that those are onerous terms in any shape or form. We’re very happy with how our model is performing,” he said. “We are paying out the vast majority of all the revenues, and that’s really how we want to keep going.”

Spotify currently has an impressive amount of users with 10 million active users, and 2.5 million of them paying for the service. It is available in 12 countries, and its users have created more than 500m playlists – a number that has doubled since July 2011.

“The Spotify revolution is really to make access as an alternative to ownership,” said Ek. “We’re just three years in, but we’ve already become the second biggest digital revenue source for all the labels in Europe behind iTunes. And we’ve paid out more than $150m to the music industry so far.”

He also summed up Spotify’s mission statement with a carefully-crafted soundbite: “The ultimate goal here is to be as ubiquitous as the CD, but with all of the obvious advantages of being digital.”

The Apps

We’ve had an extended look at some of the apps that are currently available, they’re not groundbreaking in anyway, and Apple will hardly be quaking in fear of what Spotify has planned. The new app service looks to get users engaging more, and not just running the software in the background.

We Are Hunted’s app is simple and effective, allowing you to instantly playlist 100 of the top tracks from online sources like blogs. Last.fm’s app will have potential for those of you who have scribbling their music for a while. Songkick offer easy access to contert tickets of artists you listen to and The Guardian, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, obviously, offer more of a editorial focus.

Apple Vs Spotify

Ultimately, if Spotify becomes the next big bastion for music delivery this will surely put another nail in the coffin of the labels favoured model: selling music. Something Apple has had a stranglehold on for years. Traditionally, the Spotify vs Apple argument has been often been played down, but, with Spotify’s increased exposure with its Facebook partnership, the Swedish company is the clearest competition to the iTunes crown.

The age old battle of ownership versus access is one that is brought into sharp focus with this new announcement –  we personally can’t see both coexisting without having an impact on one another. The likely winner, surprisingly, could be Spotify. Sure it’s going to take a while, but with an all-you-can-eat ethos Spotify looks to be a better deal for the consumer, and less so for the major labels, Apple and independent artists.

Spotify Vs iTunes: Battle Of The Apps is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich, no they’re not planning to take on Ben & Jerry’s, is the biggest update to Android Google has ever undertaken. It adds hundreds of improvements, changes and features, making it work for both phones and tablets in equal measure. Google hopes the new version of Android will go some way to solving the fragmentation of the operating system and will be the simplest, most user friendly version to date.

The new UI

The sandwich part of the name is Google’s attempt to the intergrate elements from both the phone version of Android Gingerbread, and the tablet version Honeycomb, into one harmonious system which will work equally well on phones or tablets. Perhaps the most striking shift with Ice Cream Sandwich is its move away from the four physical buttons that have long been Android phones’ most identifiable feature. In fact, the Galaxy Nexus – the flagship Android 4.0 phone – has no front facing buttons at all.

Instead, you get a trio of virtual buttons at the bottom of the display –  to go back a step, to return to your home screen, and to multitask, or toggle among recently used applications. Those of your with a Android tablet will know this how the current crop of tablets handle navigation, but, can it work for a device with half the screen size? Well, we can report that they do work well, and it won’t be too much of hassle to get used to for Gingerbread users. There are, of course, some little niggles – sometimes the menu button can move from app to app meaning you’ll have to search for it, which gets old, fast.

Google has gone for a minimal look for Ice Cream Sandwich, with subtle colours, detailed shades, and added depth using multiple layers – it more functional than showy, but for us it’s the best Andriod UI so far. The new lock screen has everything you’d want; date, time and your wallpaper. Unlock the phone and you can jump directly to the camera or to one of five home screens. Here you’ll be able to place widgets and icons as you see fit and now you can create folders by stacking apps, your four favourite icons will now stay at the bottom of every home screen.

What we liked

Alongside the greatly improved UI, you’ll notice a vastly improved Web Browser which has seen a major increase in performance. Compared to 2.3 Gingerbread it’s twice as fast, with new pop-down menus to switch between mobile and desktop viewing and a new options for storing pages for offline reading.

There are also improvements for your contacts book; it’s borrows a lot of cool features found in Window Phone 7 by integrating Twitter and LinkedIn profiles, you’ll also see friends most recent status updates, and the ability to block calls from any one in your contacts list.

Gmail has had a decent lick of paint too, with new fonts, increased size of preview text, and you can now create a new message without having to press the menu botton – the whole experience has been refined to make it much more user friendly and quicker to use. The Camera app has also been dramatically overhauled too, making it incredibly faster to take pictures than any of its predecessors. The new music player integrates with Google Music, so it has a built-in store and lets you stream from your cloud music library.

Widgets have always of the most unique features of Android and they take centre stage once again with Ice Cream Sandwich, for example, the Gmail widget, lets you scroll through messages from your home screen. Similarly, the Photo Gallery widget, lets you flip through thumbnails of images on your phone. Widgets can now also be resized to take up more or less space on your home screen.

What we didn’t like

There’s are plently of improvements to be found in Ice Cream Sandwich, but, as with any software update there are some things that will annoy you. For example, Face Unlock, is complete gimmick and a bit of a waste of time, and the Live Effects function is also a bit of a waste of time. Other annoyances come with Flash compatability, ICS’s Web browser shows less of the web than current Gingerbread phone, this is due to the fact that the Adobe Flash plug-in doesn’t work yet. Adobe has said that a work version will be with us by the end of the year, and this will solve any and all issues – but for a new OS, looking to take iOS 5 – it’s rather disappointing.

Those of you who are looking for a deeper intergration with Facebook will be left sorely disappointed. You can’t absorb you Facebook contacts into your contacts books and can’t intergrate Facebook into the message apps. Finally, and probably most disappointing is the fact that not all apps are working on Ice Creeam Sandwich. Google’s ambition for a seamless experience across all phones and tablets isn’t quite there yet - it isn’t directly Google’s fault – but users will still suffer. Ironically Google wanted to solve the fragmenting of its OS, but in the process has probably made it worse; it’s going to take a good couple of years, before all tablets and phones have the same Android software.

Conclusion

Any OS should do the simple things well, and then over the course of a few weeks should reveal cool little touches and tricks that surprise you and utimatley create a emotional bond with its users. Ice Cream Sandwich does the first part incredibly well, almost all the important features and functions are easily available, requiring far less button presses than every before, but we’re still struggling to fall in love with Android like you do with Apple’s iOS.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich Review: Everything You Need To Know is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Google has finally brought their Google Music service out of beta and last night they officially launched the new music service in the US. While it’s not available outside the US, we’re going to take a in-depth look at what Google has planned to try and compete with iTunes and other music services like Spotify.

It represents quite a departure for the search engine giant. They’ve always positioned themselves as a middle man, but yesterday’s announcement see’s them go head to head with the myriad of other mp3 music stores and Apple’s iTunes. But, does it offer anything new that’s really worth getting excited about? Well if you are a Android user, being able to buy music direct from your phone will be a welcomed one.

The Cloud 

One of the features of Google music is the ability to use the service within the cloud, now, this is nothing new, Apple’s has its own version of this and similar to Apple’s service users will be able to store and stream 20,000 songs from your own collection or bought through the new music store. You’ll be able to access your music through your phone, desktop or tablet via streams or you’ll be able to download them direct to your device.

Music Hub

To upload your collection to the service you will need to use the music hub software, which will allow you to add songs to your cloud locker – even if its spread across several computers.  Our main gripe is who has the time or patience to upload 20,000 tracks to anything, with UK upload rates it would take ages for the average punter. Maybe in a couple of years this will be the future, but Cloud services sound better in theory than in practice.

Google Music App

To access your music, you’ll need to download the Google Music app, this will allow you to access your cloud as well as download music back to your device, you’ll need an Android phone running 2.2 and have the latest version of the Android Market place.

Google’s Android market place will now sport a section where users will be able to buy music like you would on iTunes.  Google has got three out of the four major labels on board as well as deals with 1,000′s of independent labels. Tracks will cost the standard cost of a track: around 99p and you’ll be able to get the tracks in full Mp3 320 quality and DRM free – something iTunes doesn’t offer. You’ll be able to preview tracks for 90 seconds and you will be given a free song a day. Whether you get to choose it or it’s chosen for you remains unclear.

Google + Integration

Google has big plans for intergration with its newly launched Google + social network. They are planning to share your purchases with people who are in your circles, and better still, your friends will be able to listen to track in full once, and if you buy an album they’ll be allowed one full play of the album too, which is a very clever idea and will no doubt increase Google Pluses use too.

Artist Hub

Another interesting concept that Google has come up with is the artist hub – a new way for artists to sell their own music. In a similar way to the App store, it cuts out the middle man. Artists or smaller labels will be able to set up their own page, dictate the price of the release, and will bank 70% of the revenue generated. Essentially it’s Google’s own version of Bandcamp. The artist will be given full control on what sort of previews they want and if it takes off could be a revolutionary change for the industry. Its been done before, but with Google’s exposure and marketing budgets could become the future distribution network for smaller, more niche independent labels.

Google will look to woo the music buying public with some exclusive content, these will include exclusive live concerts from the Rolling Stones, Busta Rhymes debuting his new studio album on Google Music, plus free live albums from Coldplay, Shakira, Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews Band.

Missed Opportunity

But, has Google missed a massive opportunity, well, according to some it is has, an  independent music analyst Mark Mulligan, formerly of Forrester Research, said: “Google for so many people is the junction of their digital lives. The company was expected to create a much more imaginative service than just a simple download store and digital locker system,” he told The Telegraph.

From early impressions Google has pretty much copied the iTunes model, with some refreshing additions, we like the idea of being able to share purchases and the artist hub. They’ve now got to get the same deals sorted in Europe and the rest of world. There’s no doubt it will succeed, purely down to the sheer number of Android handsets out there, but those of you who thought it might change the world of music forever will be a bit disappointed. But it’s early days so we can’t judge just yet.

Google Music: What You Need To Know is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Following the untimely death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the only officially endorsed autobiography, Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography, gets its release this week and is to guaranteed to go into the top spot – we take a look at some of the excerpts that have been released during the follow-up to this week’s release.

Written by Walter Isaacson, who interviewed Jobs 40 times during his final battle with cancer, also had access to the inventor’s friends and family. It’s expected to give fans of Apple a look into the mind of someone who really changed the world.

Over the last couple of weeks hundreds of people have given their thoughts on why they thought Steve Jobs was so important – from our own Steven Fry to US president Barack Obama, they have all praised the founder of Apple computers as a true visionary and one of the most important people of the last 25 years.

Steve Jobs and the “grand theft” by Google

Steve felt Apple was the victim of a “grand theft” when Google released the Android mobile operating system, to say he was wasn’t happy would be an understatement, he felt Google had simply stolen their entire concept, previously Job’s relationship with Google had been a good one, but when they started to compete against each in the mobile phone market, relations were less than cordial.

He said: “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Steve Jobs on the betrayal by Eric Schmidt

It’s obvious that Steve Jobs felt Apple were betrayed by Google’s Eric Schmidt. Schmidt had previously sat on Apple’s board from 2006 to 2009, but when Android came out Jobs felt it was theft, theft of Apple’s ideas and they wouldn’t take it lying down. Jobs met with Schmidt at a café in Palo Alto, California and told him in no uncertain terms what he felt about the Google and their Android operating system.

“I don’t want your money. If you offer me $5 billion, I don’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want.”

Steve Jobs on the “unimaginative” Microsoft Founder Bill Gates

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates relationship goes back as far as the 1970’s, there’s no doubt that their relationship was a complex one, but in the autobiography Steve Jobs spoke candidly about his thoughts towards Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

“He’d be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.” Jobs went on to lambast Gates, “He really never knew much about technology, but he had an amazing instinct for what works.”

Jobs also had some words to say about Gates after his time with Microsoft saying: “Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he’s more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas.”

But Steve Jobs actually might actually owe a lot to Microsoft, as it’s suggested the idea for a tablet was actually from a Microsoft employee who had boasted to Jobs over dinner that they had a revolutionary tablet in production.

‘This dinner was like the tenth time he talked to me about it, and I was so sick of it that I came home and said, “F**k this, let’s show him what a tablet can really be”,’ Jobs said.

Steve Jobs and a future Apple TV

Many tech commentators have often speculated that Apple will one day make a TV. Well, according to excerpts from the book it was on Steve’s agenda to completely revolutionise the TV.

A TV with iOS built-in and would be incredibly easy to use. Essentially it would be a 40 or 50-inch iPad, a system that understands voice commands, using Apple’s new Siri virtual assistant, and spares you the trouble of fumbling with a clunky remote that always gets lost between the sofa cushions.

If you want to watch an obscure movie, or play a game, or record the Titans game on Sunday, ask and the system will find it. No more finding the buttons to switch manually between video sources; the TV will put it on the screen for you

Jobs said, ‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ adding, ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

Steve Jobs on meeting Barack Obama and his can’t do attitude

Not one to mince his words it was common knowledge that Jobs could be a difficult character and would often say what he felt irrespective of what others felt.

US President Barack Obama was one person to who knew this from personal experience, Jobs told the man in the White House “You’re headed for a one-term presidency,” in a meeting back in 2010, when discussing Obama’s approach to big business.

The meeting between the two almost didn’t happen due to the fact that the President had not personally invited him. His wife told him that Obama “was really psyched to meet with you,” and after a five-day stand off, they finally met at the Westin San Francisco Airport.

Jobs told Isaacson he was not impressed with the president after their meeting, in part because of Mr. Obama’s focus on what is not possible, rather than what is possible.

“The president is very smart. But he kept explaining to us reasons why things can’t get done,” Jobs told Isaacson. “It infuriates me.”

Jobs also slammed the U.S. educational system as “crippled by union work rules.” He proposed longer school days – until 6 p.m. – and a longer school year – 11 months.

Steve Jobs on the infamous turtleneck jumper

Everyone will recognise Steve Jobs by the famous turtle neck jumper he used to wear whenever he took to the stage to announce new Apple products, but what was the story behind the famous look Steve loved so much?

Jobs revealed, “Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, “I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea.”

Jobs added, “So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them.” Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. “That’s what I wear,” he said. “I have enough to last for the rest of my life.”

Steve Jobs autobiography is out now.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Google and Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Nexus smarphone phone alongside the latest version of Android 4.0 ‘Ice Cream’ at a Google event yesterday and they are hoping it will be the answer to the continued iPhone dominance of the smartphone market.

Shown to the press and public for the first time the latest version of the software looks to unify both mobile and tablet versions of Android’s operating systems, with designs cues from both Gingerbread and Honeycomb.

The new OS will be available to all future Android devices and some current Android phones. It is all part of Google’s attempt to solve the problem of continued fragmentation of their Android eco-system.

Nexus Galaxy

Among some of the clever party pieces you can expect from the Galaxy Nexus, running Ice Cream, is the ability to simply look at the device and, with some clever facial recognition, it will magically unlock.

Also featuring on the phone will be the much talked about NFC – with the technology Google has create a new app called, Android Beam, which allows you to share webpages, apps and Youtube videos just by touching two handsets together, of course they’ll both have to be the Nexus Galaxy, but in the future it could become an invaluable app.

Google has also seriously ramped up their use of cloud-services claiming that all data can now be backed up to the cloud with contacts, bookmarks, settings, however whether all of this will be coming to the UK remains to be seen.

The phone has completely ditched all physical buttons with software-based equivalents. The thinking behind this is of course to allow for a bigger screen, and it now comes with a whopping 4.65” screen.

The screen is probably the most impressive thing about the phone, the resolution is a laptop equivalent 1280x 720 resolution – making it the first phone to have a true 720p HD screen.

Under the svelte lines of the screen you will find a 1.2 Ghz processor and 1Gb of ram. For storage junkies you will be able to pick the phone up in 2 variations: 16GB and 32GB. Those of you looking for more might want to look elsewhere.

The camera isn’t going to worry any Galaxy S2 or iPhone 4S users as its only packing 5 megapixels on the back and 1.3 on the front for video calls and facial recognition. It will, however, produce zero shutter lag, panoramic imaging and 1080p video recording.

The Galaxy Nexus is also impressively thin: measuring 135.5mm by 67.94mm and just 8.94mm thick, the 135g smartphone should fit pretty much any pocket – despite its large display.

Specs-wise it not a iPhone 4S killer, it will compete admirably with the competition, but the main attraction of the new Nexus Galaxy is it will be the first phone to come with the latest version of Android ‘Ice Cream’.

Android Ice Cream

Unifying Android is something Google has been talking about sometime, at the moment you have a situation where phones are on varying versions of Gingerbread for mobile phones, as well as some early tablets on it too. To make things a little more complicated you then have Honeycomb as well, which was launched 6 months ago and was specifically designed for tablets like the Motorola Zoom, Asus Eee Pad and Galaxy 10.1 Tab.

Confused? Well that’s the reasoning behind Ice Cream – it will eventually be the only Android OS for all Android devices; whether it’s a smartphone or a tablet. Well that’s the promise.

“With Ice Cream Sandwich, our mission was to build a mobile OS that works on both phones and tablets, and to make the power of Android enticing and intuitive,” explained Google’s mobile Vice President Andy Rubin at the launch yesterday.

He added: “We created a new font that’s optimized for HD displays and eliminated all hardware buttons in favor of adaptable software buttons.”

Reading into this it’s clear that Google hopes all future Android phone manufacturers will adopt a unified screen resolution of 1280×720 in the future, of course, it could go higher, but setting the benchmark at 720p is a bold move.

The removal of hardware buttons can be traced back to the UI design of Honeycomb, where all buttons apart from the power and volume are on the screen rather than on the device.

Whether this means you won’t be able to upgrade to the button-less ‘Ice Cream’ on current Android phones doesn’t seem clear, but Google did mention that the old Nexus will get the new update

He went on to add: “We also dramatically improved the keyboard, made notifications more interactive and created resizable widgets,” Rubin continued.

“The desktop-class browser is significantly faster, featuring a refined tab manager and the ability to sync your bookmarks with Google Chrome.

“Ice Cream Sandwich also features the best mobile Gmail experience to date, with a new design that lets you quickly swipe through your inbox and search messages even when you’re offline.

In the update you’ll find tweaks to calendars too as it now comes with a digital lick of paint making it cleaner and easier to use, as you can now zoom into your schedule with a simple pinch.

“People are at the heart of Ice Cream Sandwich,” Rubin added. “We rethought how you browse your contacts with the new People app, which combines high-resolution photos and updates from Google+ and other social services. It’s also easier to capture and share your life with family and friends.”

You can expect to pick up the Galaxy Nexus from the November, however, there’s no specifics on price or network availability.

Does a phone running specs, in some cases, less than the current crop of Android competition tempt you into picking up the new Galaxy Nexus? Is the first handset to come with Ice Cream a big enough draw to choose it over the S2, HTC EVO or Sony Ericsson Experia Ray ? Let us know in the comments below. And also check the promo video for a more visual hands-on.

Google And Samsung Unveil Galaxy Nexus And Android Ice Cream is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Why Facebook for Business?

With over 750 million active users on Facebook, it’s a bit of a hard medium to pass up when trying to reach an audience. Granted, these people are quite diversely spread around the world which may not be of much use if you’re focused on selling curtain rods in Wandsworth.

Facebook however does have the added benefit of being able to drill down into very specific sections of the community for highly targeted advertising. But if annoying people with sidebar ads isn’t your thing, a cheap (read: free) alternative is to create a Facebook Page for your business. Why do this? Let’s find out.

Facebook Pages Vs. Facebook Groups

According to Facebook’s own statistics, the average user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. It doesn’t take much extrapolating to realise that if you want a low-cost way to reach out to an audience, a Facebook page for your business may not be a bad idea.

Both Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups are free to create, so already you don’t have much to lose other than the lunch hour it will take you to create your new online presence. The main difference between the two is that Facebook Pages can be viewed by Facebook’s entire network, Facebook Groups however can only be seen by registered users of that particular group.

In a bit of a nutshell, Groups comprise of “members” while Pages comprise of “fans”, and really, who wouldn’t like a few more fans telling them how awesome they are? Facebook Groups can work better for organisations trying to raise awareness of a specific cause, as it collates like-minded people together.

Facebook Pages will maximise your reach by not excluding any users from seeing all activity on that page, and once someone becomes a fan all of their friends are notified about this on their News Feed.

Benefits of Your Business on Facebook

Facebook’s reach allows you to potentially reach out to new clients while maintaining relationships with existing customers.

You can instantly update everyone with any new products, services or competitions without having to liaise with a third party agency to get your message out there.

A Facebook Page works brilliantly as well for any promotions or competitions you want to run. People are more likely to Like your Page and spread the word if there’s something in it for them. By running a competition for the person who provides you with the most Likes, you can easily tap into those myriads of users Facebook is known for.

The more you engage with your Fans, the more your Page will be active and “Liked”. On your Wall settings you can allow Fans access to post on your front page which is great for interaction- just make sure you continually moderate the site to avoid any offensive comments being posted. By publicising the good and the bad of what people communicate with you, you start a dialogue and as close to a meaningful relationship to your clientele as you can get. Especially if you address the negative comments in a way to show that you’re taking on board constructive criticism.

Also by having a Facebook presence, you are showing yourself to be up to date with technology and can create a voice for yourself as a leading authority within your industry. If you want to take your Page further, you can use it as part of a wider PR campaign for your business.

Downsides to a Business Facebook Page

Your Facebook Page needs to be an active part of your marketing campaign. If you don’t update your Facebook Page at least once a week (once a day is even better) you’re not going to get much market traction because people won’t get involved with something that is static. A Facebook Page with a last update a year ago is worse than having no Facebook Page at all.

You will also need to monitor the Page to ensure any offensive comments by your fans are moderated. Again, a Page that is full of insults to your business or is offensive to your Fans obviously will do more harm than good.

Why a Business Page is Better than Straight Advertising

Apart from the obvious monetary benefits of not having to shell out any cash upfront to set-up a Facebook Page there are a few other Page plusses over traditional advertising streams.

You can personalise your page to your business by uploading photos, videos, applications and shout out messages to all of your fans.

The Page also provides a means of communication with your customers, if you respond to people who write on your Page’s wall, you can actually create something close to meaningful dialogue which will showcase your customer service skills.

How to Create Your Business Page

Finding the link to create a Facebook Page can be a bit tricky, as Facebook has done a great job at not placing it anywhere prominent on its site. To create a page, wander over to:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

The first thing you’ll have to do when you venture over to Facebook to actually create your page is to decide what you are. Facebook offers pages for:

• Local businesses or places
• Company, Organisation or Institution
• Brand or Product
• Artist, Band or Public Figure
• Entertainment
• Cause of Comminute

Simply click on your category, fill in your details and you’ll then be asked to log into an existing Facebook Account or click “I do not have a Facebook Account”, and voila, you will find yourself with one Business Page! Keep in mind though that once you’ve created your Page you won’t be able to change your business name or category so make sure you’re typo-free before submitting your details.

Facebook now helpfully uses popup screens to help you navigate your way around your new Page, and to let you know what details and updates you can post to the world. Kick this off by clicking on the “Get Started” button under your image.

You can upload a main image which could be a logo or a picture representing what it is your business does. You can also include some info on why you’re awesome in the “About” section. Make sure you also include your website URL as well in case any visitors are so taken with your Page they want more information.

Once you have a few things happening on your Page, you’re going to want some people to get involved with it. An obvious way to kick off your fan base is to share your Page with as many people as you already know, asking them to Like your Page.

If you have a storefront, create a sign so that your customers know that they can Like you on Facebook for special deals. If you have a website, add a Facebook badge to your site so that people can instantly click through to your Page. If you have a Twitter or MySpace Account as well, network with these platforms to consolidate your presence online. There are a number of ways to get your new page out there, do as many as you can for maximum impact!

To keep tabs on how well your Page is going, you can click on the “View Insights” tab on the right side of your Page. This provides you with info such as how many “Likes” you’ve amassed, and can change the timeframe you’re interested in to compare this on a day-to-day basis. It’s not quite as thorough as Google Analytics but it’s not bad.

Your Facebook Page

The more you engage your Fans, the more your Page will work for you. Facebook has given you a two-way street to speak to and listen to your customers. Remember all of those old-school “We Welcome Your Comments” forms that never got returned without an obscure drawing scribbled on it? No more do you have to decipher hieroglyphic-esque handwriting to give your customers a chance to air their opinion! Used correctly, Facebook Pages can be an extremely effective tool in your Marketing arsenal and best of all (don’t tell the agencies this), it’s free.

Why And How To Create A Facebook Page For Business is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com