The EU already allows 2G spectrum to be reused for 3G and 4G services, but now member states will also have to allow 3G spectrum to be ‘refarmed’ in the same way. The effects will take years to manifest themselves, though. Read more »
Android 4.2, the version that’s debuting on the Nexus 4, swipes functionality from Swype – but its implementation of photo filters could spell trouble for multiple startups. Read more »
ARM, Neul and CSR have joined hands with Cable & Wireless Worldwide to push adoption of the Weightless wireless standard. Meanwhile, ARM and Neul are also backing an internet-of-things accelerator program, with the help of Unilever and Raspberry Pi. Read more »
The startup, which has just announced seed funding from some impressive backers, combines photos with short sound clips to create a fresh take on the ‘how to’ video. It feels like a mechanism with many uses. Read more »
With Square still out of the picture, Europe is becoming a battleground for its clones. And, fresh from an American Express cash boost, Sweden’s iZettle is taking on Germany’s Payleven on its own turf. Read more »
After the child sex scandal that hit Habbo Hotel earlier this year, owner Sulake hopes to turn it into a platform on which other developers can launch their own games. As part of that shift, up to 60 jobs are set to be cut. Read more »
It’s one thing to try crowdsourced legislation in relatively small, cohesive societies such as those in Finland and Iceland, but a whole different ballgame when you try it on a population of half a billion people. Read more »
Most mobile wallets are about replacing bank cards, or tickets and coupons. A new mobile wallet from Giesecke & Devrient aims to replace not only these, but also ID cards, building and vehicle keys, and public transport tickets. Read more »
Call it a minor pivot. The Berlin- and L.A.-based IMDb rival Moviepilot has decided that the real money lies in turning its masses of user data into cross-platform marketing campaigns for the likes of Universal and Disney. Read more »
Would you record your life in a series of geotagged photos? Swedish startup Memoto is betting enough people will want digital memory assistance, and their first-day performance on Kickstarter backs them up. Read more »
Iceland’s citizens were given a chance to help forge a new constitution for their country through Facebook and Twitter, so it’s not surprising that they backed the resulting draft. Now it’s over to the politicians. Read more »
The investment bank Torch Partners, which has played a part in the growth of companies such as Huddle, OnApp and Just Eat, says it is attracted to Berlin partly by the B2B scene that’s quietly bubbling away there. Read more »
Analytics is not a new field, but its evolution into ‘big data’ shows how much of a growth industry it is. That means facing up to issues such as the need for talent and good models. Read more »
Red Hat CTO Brian Stevens sees it as a ‘personal disappointment’ that there aren’t more companies lining up to follow his firm’s highly lucrative open source subscription path. Read more »
The software-defined datacenter is just starting to become a reality, and the move to this new environment raises interesting questions around flash storage expectations and network ownership. Read more »
According to Equinix CTO Lane Patterson, CIOs are still learning what can and what can’t be done in the cloud. Ultimately, it’s a matter of trust. Read more »
T-Mobile Austria, Huawei and Qualcomm have announced a relatively smooth handover of a voice calls between LTE and 3G network technologies. This should clear the way for manufacturers to start building Voice over LTE into more phones. Read more »
It can finally be confirmed that Levin is in charge of Poolworks, formerly VZ Networks, the company behind German Facebook clone StudiVZ. But why was the new owner’s identity such a secret? Read more »
When the man at the center of the ‘Twitter Joke Trial’ had his conviction quashed, it seemed some sanity had returned to the British legal system’s approach to online offensiveness. But that’s not how things worked out. Read more »
Taxi-hailing apps are already starting to crowd the U.S. market, but the German myTaxi may just have an edge. It already has 2.3 million users, for one thing, but it also has a clever plan in mind. Read more »
The YouTube of sound is a clear success, but its big monetization play – beyond pro-account subscriptions – still remains a mystery. Read more »
The British company’s Series C includes Accel Partners as well as existing investors Balderton Capital and Index Ventures. HouseTrip has also released numbers that suggest it’s in second place behind Airbnb. Read more »
4G isn’t the future anymore. A consortium of companies is to set up a ’5G Innovation Centre’ at the University of Surrey, with the aim of making mobile broadband communications faster and more efficient. Read more »
Faced with a huge hike in taxes on the benefits of equity sales, French entrepreneurs banded together as ‘Les Pigeons’ and forced the government to reverse its plans. Read more »
The service, which lets users search for Instagram photos by location, had a great start – for a day or so. With sudden popularity hitting the ceiling of API limits, it’s just as well Worldcam is a side-project. Read more »
The Nokia spin-off is solidifying its strategy of focusing on China first. The alliance around its mobile OS will be based in Hong Kong and take in major industry players from chipset vendors and OEMs to retailers and operators. Read more »
The deal means the UK will in effect have just two sets of cellular infrastructure, with Vodafone and Telefonica (O2) using one and EE and Three using the other. Read more »
Germany’s state-owned rail company has threatened a developer with legal action for publishing its timetables and station coordinates – data it’s handed over to Google in an exclusive deal. The developer says he’s just trying to keep the public informed. Read more »
EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia has indicated that formal antitrust proceedings are almost certain in the case of Microsoft, and pretty likely with Google too. In both cases, fines could run into the billions. Read more »
Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are pulling together with the support of the European Investment Fund to kickstart investment in their countries – and much of the cash is likely to go to the tech startup sector. Read more »
The ex-Nokians are almost ready to reveal their MeeGo-based smartphone, but how are they planning to break into the two-horse mobile race? According to CEO Jussi Hurmola, Jolla has a plan for getting operators and other co-branding partners on board. Read more »
Following a successful first two years for the original FinTech Innovation Lab in New York, Accenture and its banking pals are trying to replicate the scheme in the world’s top financial center. Read more »
The social network has bowed to the demands of privacy regulators across the EU and axed its facial recognition features for European users. However, it plans to bring the functionality back once it’s figured out how to give its users real privacy choice. Read more »
Double Robotics’ iPad-eqipped telepresence robot is the first beneficiary of the $25m fund Grishin announced earlier this year. His cash will help Double ramp up manufacturing, which will be useful as early demand has been high. Read more »
The Finnish government has approved the technology behind a new ‘Open Ministry’ platform, which will act as a hub for citizens who want new laws voted on in the country’s parliament. But could that work elsewhere? Read more »
The Israel-based firm has set up a server farm to automatically match its social family trees with billions of historical records ranging from newspaper articles to tombstone images, and will offer its users free snippets of the matches it’s found. Read more »
The deal will see the Spanish telecoms giant bundle augmented reality tech with its advertising offerings and promote the Aurasma app to its 300 million customers. But will marketing use-cases finally make the technology fly? Read more »
Moves to allow the digitization of ‘orphan works’ and free up the metadata around 20 million cultural objects will benefit the public and could inspire a new wave of apps and web services. But the underlying motivation is fundamentally political. Read more »
The Finnish firm’s founders are moving to New York to cash in on heavy U.S. demand, they say, while also revealing the opening of a Singapore office. Read more »
The cloud-based customer service suite now has a simplified and more unified UI, and has also pulled in major funding from big names such as Index and Goldman Sachs. Read more »
