News
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Justin Timberlake Debuts Myspace TV At press conference...
By Holly Frith on 11 January 2012
Justin Timberlake has launched Myspace TV at a conference earlier this week.
The singer/actor is now set to take a 'major role' in the new direction of the social network site after becoming part of the group that has bought MySpace from News Corp in a deal worth $35 million last year.
Timberlake appeared at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Monday night (January 9) and discussed how the social networking site is rebranding.
Myspace TV is set to combine over 42 million songs and 100,000 music videos in a step to build up their online community.
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Grammys To Honour Steve Jobs With Posthumous Award Technical award for late Apple giant...
By Alex Winehouse on 22 December 2011
Steve Jobs is to be honoured with a posthumous technical Grammy award at next year's ceremony, it has been announced.
His award is part of the Trustees Award category, with other recipients being composer and musician Dave Bartholomew and recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
The award will be handed out on February 11, 2012, a day before the full ceremony.
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Apple's iTunes Match Launches In The UK Cloud service replaces CD rips with superior-quality recordings...
By Alex Winehouse on 19 December 2011
Apple have launced their iTunes Match service in the UK.
Although users have to pay £21.99 a year to use the new system, it enables their music library to be scanned by Apple, who replace songs with higher quality versions which can then be accessed from other Apple devices.
Songs that may have been downloaded illegally through torrent sites will be treated just the same as any legal download.
iTunes Match was launched in the US in November, but has now come to Britain.
The move has been welcomed by the music industry, with Universal Music UK director of digital music Paul Smernicki telling the BBC: "We believe that it creates a great and seamless experience for music buyers that will ultimately see increased sales and digital conversion."
Explaining why Apple had been able to gain permission from the industry, independent analyst Mark Mulligan said: "The reason why this can happen is because Apple essentially owns the music industry’s most valuable customers - the ones spending the lion’s share in the digital marketplace.
"The major record labels are more willing to do things in Apple’s ecosystem than they would elsewhere."
iTunes Match can be accessed through a computer's iTunes program.
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British Users 'Intoxicated' In Three Out Of Every Four Facebook Photographs We're off our faces in 76 per cent of every image on social network...
By Alex Winehouse on 19 December 2011
A new survey has suggested that British Facebook members are inebriated in up to seventy six per cent of every photograph shown on the social network site.
The study found that the UK's adult Facebook users were drunk in three out of every four images that they were tagged in.
She did add, however, that most of the photos were taken on special occassions, such as at parties or family reunions.
How Apple changed the world...
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Apple To Release 'Mini' iPad In Late 2012 According to a new report...
By Alex Winehouse on 16 December 2011
Apple are planning on releasing an iPad 'Mini' in time for Christmas 2012, according to reports.
Coming in the final quarter of 2012, the iPad Mini will provide the bookend to a year that should also see the iPad 3 released withing the next few months.
However, Samsung's Galaxy tablets are beginning to make a dent in Apple's sales, coming as it does in different sizes, with Amazon's Kindle Fire proving popular, costing jut £199 (£127).
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Apple's iPad 3 'Arriving In Next Three To Four Months' Suppliers claim...
By Alex Winehouse on 13 December 2011
Apple's next generation iPad will be released within the next three to four months, according to reports.
A source is quoted as saying: "OEM production of iPad 2 will remain high at 14-15 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 but decline to 4-5 million units in the first quarter of 2012, paving the way for the launch of the new iPads."
Rumours suggest the new iPad will be slightly thicker than the current model, and that it was feature a high-resolution screen with a Retina Display function.
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Charlie Sheen Revealed As Most Popular 2011 Twitter Hashtag As microblogging site releases annual information...
By Alex Winehouse on 6 December 2011
Twitter has revealed that Charlie Sheen and the Egyptian uprising were the most popular subjects for hashtags in 2011.
#egypt was the most used hashtag - a group of tweets gathered around the same subject - which shows how integral the site was to the uprising against Hosni Mubarak's regime that triggered the Arab Spring.
This was followed by #tigerblood, referring to a comment made by Sheen after his sacking from US sitcom Two and a Half Men.
Sheen had told RadarOnline at the time: "My fangs are dripping tiger blood."
The actor was also the most talked about person on Twitter, with his very public breakdown being chronicled almost exclusively by the site.
Indeed, such was Sheen's popularity that he attracted over 1 million followers within 24 hours of joining the site in March - a statistic that is thought to be a record.
Twitter posted a message on their blog which read: "Among other things, we saw history unfold in the Middle East, mourned the passing of Elizabeth Taylor, celebrated National Whipped Cream Day, and cheered for the Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers and Wayne Rooney. We wondered about Charlie Sheen, speculated about the Sony NGP, and raved (or raged) about Rebecca Black. And we tYp3ed LyK tHi5.
"More than anything, these trends demonstrate how Twitter connects people with common interests. Instead of watching the news, the Super Bowl and Pretty Little Liar at home alone, we watched them together on Twitter. We shared our thoughts about the world we live in, and we listened as others around the globe chimed in."
Twitter hit 100 million active users in 2011, and welcomed people such as Simon Cowell, Gwyneth Paltrow, Salman Rushdie, Gary Barlow, Steve Coogan's Alan Partridge character and the Pope.
Charlie Sheen behaving badly...
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Apple Denies Siri Is 'Anti-Abortion' iPhone 4S personal assistant is, if anything, ambivalent on the subject...
By Alex Winehouse on 1 December 2011
Apple have moved swiftly to deny accusations that Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant on the iPhone 4S, is morally opposed to abortions.
Bloggers and pro-choice campaigners have complained that Siri fails to flag up local abortion clinics, and suggesting in some cases nearby pregnancy advice centres instead.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris told the New York Times: "Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information, and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want.
"These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks."
In response, The American Civil Liberties Union observed yesterday in a blog posting: "Although it isn't clear that Apple is intentionally trying to promote an anti-choice agenda, it is distressing that Siri can point you to Viagra, but not the Pill, or help you find an escort, but not an abortion clinic."
Siri is one of the new iPhone's most high-profile additions, enabling users to set reminders, access information and manage their schedules just with their voice.
US owners can get the system to answer questions about local services, although this isn't available in the UK.
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Spotify To Become 'Music Platform' Rolling Stone, Billboard to create integrated apps...
By Alex Winehouse on 1 December 2011
Spotify has announced that it will become a fully-fledged music platform, with integrated apps being introduced to the service.
Speaking at the company's New York press conference, co-founder and chief executive Daniel Ek announced that third-party developers will now be able to create HTML5 Spotify apps via JavaScript API.
He said: "Today, we become a music platform, with the launch of really innovative, integrated apps, integrations that keep Spotify simple but layer in fun and social experiences.
"We've turned our client into an interactive platform where third-party developers can easily build HTML5 Spotify Apps via JavaScript."
Spotify has teamed up with Rolling Stone, Billboard, Songkick and Tuingo, among other, who will have dedicated apps on the platform, with Rolling Stone committing to create daily playlists.
Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner said: "We think Spotify is one of the great new developments in music. We think this is going to be a landmark event."
Spotify have promised to announce more apps and enhancements in the future.
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Apple To Enter Television Market With 2012 iTV Release? Steve Jobs's final wish appears to be about to come true...
By Alex Winehouse on 28 November 2011
Apple are on the verge of commercially producing their first television set.
Peter Misek, an analyst at American bank Jefferies, told the newspaper: "Other TV manufacturers have begun a scrambling search to identify what iTV will be able to do.
One of late CEO Steve Jobs's last wishes, iTV will provide access to iCloud, which will enable users to connect their television to the internet, as well as enabling it to sync with other Apple devices.
It is believed that Apple has spent between $500 million and $1 billion on manufacturing equipment at the Sharp factory, where work has already begun on setting up the production line for the sets.
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