Google is to become all social!

Google is to make the web more social by introducing tools that will enable people to interact with their friends.

Friend Connect follows plans announced last week by the world’s two biggest social networking sites, MySpace and Facebook.

Data Availability and Connect let users move their personal profiles and applications to other websites.

“Social is in the air,” says Google’s director of engineering David Glazer.

During a conference call at Google’s California headquarters, Mr Glazer told reporters: “Google Friend Connect is about being the ‘long tail’ of sites becoming more social.”

“Many sites aren’t explicitly social and don’t necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other. That used to be hard.”

Google’s Open Social will allow third parties to build and develop applications for the site.

“Social networking is going mainstream. It used to be proprietary, but now it’s going to be open and baked into the infrastructure of the net, not just one site or one source,” says Mr Glazer.

New spectrum to improve health

More radio spectrum will need to be released to cater for breakthroughs in healthcare and transport, said Ofcom.

In a report focused on the future use of wireless, the regulator identified hundreds of new applications. They include wireless devices which monitor health and radio frequency ID tags on food products that allow allergy sufferers to shop more safely. Read more

Vodafone targets social networking fans

Vodafone is to offer unlimited internet access as a standard feature of its new monthly mobile price plans, driven by an increasing amount of people accessing social networking sites and email from their phones.

The Newbury-based group is the first mobile phone operator in the UK to offer the unlimited deal with all its monthly tariffs, although O2 currently offers an unlimited deal for its iPhone customers.

Vodafone hopes the new flat rate policy will fuel use of the internet on mobiles, as operators search for additional ways to generate revenue in a saturated market.

Read more

PhonepayPlus announce review of regulation of mobile content services

The spontaneity and simplicity of the phone-paid payment mechanism allows millions of consumers to enjoy mobile services such as ringtones and other downloads, competitions and TV voting. Most consumers use these services without worry or aggravation.

The review, which PhonepayPlus aims to publish in July, will provide an overview of mobile phone-paid services, and identify issues affecting UK consumers. Of particular interest to PhonepayPlus at this early stage are:

• Unsolicited promotions, especially text messages;
• Price transparency and the use of words that indicate content is ‘free’; and
• Subscription services (e.g. ringtones) and the ‘STOP’ command

Read more

4D Interactive Bike Team set sights on Brighton

4D has announced that it is to once again put the pedal to the metal and enter a team for this year’s London to Brighton Bike Ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation on Sunday 15th June 2008.

Team Captain, Omar Shah said:

“The bikes have been dusted off, the Lycra is out and the vaseline is ready. Yes Team 4D is ready to once again cycle down to sunny Brighton in the name of Charidee.”

To sponsor the team and aid the BHF please click here!

The way to a man’s heart is through his mobile!

M:Metrics reveals that young males are a rich target for mobile advertisers, as among mobile phone users 36 per cent of 18 to 34-year-old men accessed mobile media in February. Men in this age group are also highly receptive to SMS advertising, with nine per cent responding to an SMS advert they received, versus a four per cent market average. Read more…

MySpace signs new TV deal

Social networking site MySpace has signed a deal to put its shows on TV.

The deal means that MySpaceTV shows such as Quarterlife, Roommates and Special Delivery will soon air on screens outside the US.

The deal was signed with the Shine Group which is run by Elizabeth Murdoch - daughter of Rupert Murdoch who owns MySpace parent News International.

The deal covers DVDs and merchandise but MySpace retains all net rights to its programmes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7339983.stm

Google and Yahoo to share web ads!

Yahoo and Google, the world’s two biggest search engines, have announced a two-week experiment that will see them share advertising space.

During the pilot, Google will be able to place ads alongside 3% of search results on Yahoo’s website.

Analysts say the move is designed to frustrate Microsoft, which has offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6bn (£22.6bn).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7339864.stm

4D consults with PhonepayPlus over VOIP connections!

4D are today - 27th March 2008 - meeting with PhonepayPlus (www.phonepayplus.org.uk) to discuss the impact and possibilities that connection to services via VOIP (voice over internet protocol) will bring to the Industry. 4D is leading the field in terms of bringing this capability to market and is keen to be in the vanguard of ensuring that appropriate processes and controls are in place.

Mobiles in flight!

The use of mobiles on planes flying in European airspace has been given approval by UK regulator Ofcom. It has issued plans that will allow airlines to offer mobile services on UK-registered aircraft.

The decision means that mobiles could be used once a plane has reached an altitude of 3,000m or more.

But airlines keen to offer the services must still satisfy other regulators about how the hardware will be used.

Service charge

Ofcom’s decision comes out of a consultation exercise that began in October 2007.

The decision to offer the services now falls to individual airlines. However, there are other regulatory hurdles to overcome before the technology is considered to be fully approved.

The European Aviation Safety Agency needs to approve any hardware that would be installed in aircraft to ensure that it did not interfere with other flight systems.