Posts Tagged ‘bbc’
France: while everyone has a mobile phone, some citizens are using the courts to move masts further away from their schools
July 27th, 2009 | 
Author: The infrastructure that allows mobile phones to work is continuing to spread and change the world’s landscape.
But a storm is brewing in France over the location of mobile phone masts, with French courts ordering a number to be moved.
Residents living near them have health concerns, but scientists cannot agree if the technology has an impact on not.
Locals in the town of Brindas, in the south-east of France, voiced their opposition after a base station was put up in the middle of the village’s schools.
Posted in Communications | 
Tags: bbc, blog, blogs, Health, Mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, online, Technology, world | 
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Kenya: One hour with a bicycle can recharge a mobile phone
Jeremiah Murimi, 24, and Pascal Katana, 22, said they wanted their dynamo-powered “smart charger” to help people without electricity in rural areas.
“We both come from villages and we know the problems,” Mr Murimi told the BBC.
People have to travel great distances to shops where they are charged $2 a time to power their phone, usually from a car battery or solar panel.
“The device is so small you can put it in your pocket with your phone while you are on your bike,” said Mr Murimi.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: Battery, bbc, blog, blogs, car, Electric, electricity, Mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, rim |
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UK: investigation into data protection violations of a voice to text conversion service
Spinvox’s service aims to convert voice messages into text messages using advanced speech recognition software.
But claims to the BBC suggest that the majority of messages have been heard and transcribed by call centre staff in South Africa and the Philippines.
The firm declined to comment on how many messages are “read” in this way.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: bbc, blog, blogs, Finance, Mobile, Software, Technology |
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Mobile: Growth of mobile apps seen as peaking at 10 million apps in 2020, becoming more personal and more practical
However, GetJar say, the developer community will decline drastically as each developer makes less money.
According to the Symbian Foundation, newly in the developer market, apps will become more personal and practical as their numbers grow.
The comments were made at the MobileBeat conference in San Francisco.
“Apps will be as big if not bigger than the internet,” according to Ilja Laurs, chief executive of GetJar, a leading independent application store.
“They will peak at around 100,000 by the end of the year. That will be a tipping point and after that there will be a gradual fall in the rate of development.
“The full blossom will come in ten years and mobile apps will become as popular as websites are today with consumers,” Mr Laurs told BBC News.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: application, apps, bbc, blog, blogs, consumers, developer community, Internet, Mobile, mobile application, mobile applications, money, online, symbian, Technology |
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UK: The teletext service, begun in 1974, will be shut down
The owners of Teletext, Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), issued a statement saying that the current economic conditions and the growth in the use of the internet were amongst the numerous reasons behind the closure of the service.
The first further added that “As anticipated, the continued fragmentation of television audiences and the growth in the use of the internet has resulted in a significant reduction in the audience and volume of commercial activity generated by the television services.”
Teletext, which was originally called Oracle, was launched on ITV in 1974 and went head to head against BBC’s own Ceefax. Teletext still attracts on average 12 million users a week, more than twice BBC’s audience for Ceefax.
The latter will take over from Teletext until the digital switchover is completed, after which text based services for television will be quietly shuttered. DMGT will maintain the lucrative Teletext Holidays website and TV channel. Teletext is currently available on ITV, Channel Four and Five for free.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: Audi, bbc, blog, blogs, Free, information, Internet |
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