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Sony Ericsson Xperia Active wants you fitter

<img alt="Sony ericsson txt" class="aligncenter" height="315" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/Mobile%20Phones/Sony%20Ericsson/Sony-txt-420-90.jpg" width="420" /> Sony Ericsson has announced the arrival of the Sony Ericsson Active and – a handset that's built for the extreme sports crowd, as well as the Sony Ericsson txt for, well, texting lovers. The Xperia Active is a phone for those who play sports and seemingly can't bear to be without to miss a call or tweet. There's even a hook at the bottom of the Active and a wrist strap to make sure you don't lose your phone when you are running, surfing, sumo wrestling… whatever trendy athlete-types do nowadays. To make sure the handset can survive a night out in Newcastle, the Sony Ericsson Active is waterproof to one metre and also scratch resistant. Bear in mind, though, the waterproof element will only last for 30 minutes to a depth of 1m, so keeping this phone could be a lot like keeping a gremlin. Oh... my heart's stopped To go with its sporty nature, SE has added a whole host of sports-related apps, so you can keep track of your fitness. There's even an on-screen heart rate monitor, which may or may not beep when someone you fancy walks past. Underneath this sporty sheen are some pretty decent specs. The whole thing is powered by a 1GHz processor with Android 2.3 inside, as well as a 5MP camera with HD functionality and a 3-inch Reality Display. And don't worry if you have wet fingers and want to touch the screen, SE has added wet finger tracking to the mix. According to the press release, Maria Sharapova loves this phone, too. Which is an incredible coincidence since Wimbledon is taking place at the moment. Txtrs dn't lyk xtra lttrs Sony Ericsson has also released the illiterate Sony Ericsson txt, a phone for those who like to, well, text. This is a feature phone that offers a full QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2MP camera and an SMS shortcut key. You will also be able to access the likes of Twitter and Facebook easier on the phone - plus Wi-Fi is on board! Woohoo! The Sony Ericsson Active has a UK release date of Q3 2011, as does the Sony Ericsson txt – which is a 'sister' phone to the recently announced Sony Ericsson txt pro.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Active wants you fitter

Sony Ericsson has announced the arrival of the Sony Ericsson Active and – a handset that's built for the extreme sports crowd, as well a...

iPhone 4 named most popular camera on Flickr

The iPhone 4 is the most popular camera on Flickr, according to new figures released by the photo-sharing website. An update to its running tally of the most popular cameras used by the Flickr community of photographers reveals that the Apple iPhone 4 has overtaken the Nikon D90 as the most prevalent camera. This leap comes just a year after the iPhone 4 was released. The Apple iPhone 4 camera is followed by the Nikon D90, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EOS 450D (aka EOS Digital Rebel XSi) and the Canon EOS 500D (aka EOS Rebel T1i). Flickr says its graphs show the number of members who have uploaded at least one photo or video with a particular camera on a given day over the last year. However, the Flickr team adds that, "The graphs are only accurate to the extent that we can automatically detect the camera used to take the photo or shoot the video (about 2/3rds of the time)." The website admits that this is not always possible with camera phones, suggesting they are under-represented and that the iPhone camera's popularity could extend even further.

iPhone 4 named most popular camera on Flickr

The iPhone 4 is the most popular camera on Flickr, according to new figures released by the photo-sharing website. An update to its running ...

Games at Google revealed in job posting

Google is looking for someone to run a new gaming division, an official job posting has revealed. The posting on Google's website details a position as Project Manager for a new venture to be called Games at Google and offers "a rare opportunity to grow a brand-new business." A social gaming venture from Google has been long in the offing, and this is the first official confirmation. It remain unclear whether Games at Google will be an Android-based platform, a future part of the Chrome OS or something universal for all web users. Interesting and impactful The broad job posting requires someone to lead the new venture from designing the user experience, working on partnerships with developers and working with the gaming community. It reads: "We are looking for a strategic, technical and game-loving Product Manager to drive Google's gaming strategy. "You will design strategies for game distribution and discovery, player identity, game mechanics, and more. "In addition to designing a great user experience and building out key partnerships, you will be significantly influencing Google's social platform as you work directly with a critical set of early adopters, game developers. "Interesting and impactful decisions involving social gaming, privacy, virality, business, and technical APIs await you and the strong, passionate team of gamers you will work with." We'll be keeping our snouts close to the turf on this one. <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/106215538122/u/49/f/9809/c/669/s/16195929/a2.htm"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3898/31258733.gif" /></a><img alt="" height="1" src="http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/5505/57211695.gif" width="1" />

Games at Google revealed in job posting

Google is looking for someone to run a new gaming division, an official job posting has revealed. The posting on Google's website detail...

Nintendo's Miyamoto confirms Zelda HD for Wii U

Legend of Zelda creator, and all-round Nintendo demi-god, Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that young Link will finally get a hi-def makeover courtesy of the Wii U. Miyamoto rubber-stamped the news that we've been awaiting since Nintendo showed-off a Wii U demo at E3, containing HD footage from a potential Legend of Zelda game. He said the Wii U "is a HD system, our first HD system, and we want to create a real HD Zelda game for it," "You will see a lot of these in-depth and deep experiences in terms of visual style. You will also see some play styles that are fun and interesting because of the play structure." Touchscreen controller friendly? A Zelda game for Wii U has been touted as one of the ways gamers would make use of the new touchscreen controller, as it would allow players to keep a constant eye on maps within the game. The HD outing would be the second ground-breaking installment of the franchise with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D impressing on the Nintendo 3DS. Wii U games not all HD Meanwhile, Miyamoto also told Kotaku that not every game on the console will come packing HD graphics, saying that the company will put no pressure on developers to deliver a hi-def experience. While the system is rumored to be at least as powerful as rivals Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, that doesn't mean that every game that comes to it will be an HD game. "We are not planning on putting any restrictions in terms of requiring developers to leverage HD in a particular ways," Miyamoto said. "Even if you are using a simplier visual style it will still look very beautiful."

Nintendo's Miyamoto confirms Zelda HD for Wii U

Legend of Zelda creator, and all-round Nintendo demi-god, Shigeru Miyamoto has confirmed that young Link will finally get a hi-def makeover ...

Darwin's library goes digital, annotations and all

Charles Darwin's personal library is being digitised and put online by Cambridge University. The digitisation includes all of Darwin's own annotations and notes in the margins, with 330 of the most heavily annotated books already posted online for universal access. Aside from making the works available to everyone everywhere, what's really impressive about the online library is that you can actually search for a keyword within Darwin's annotations, rather than trawl through hundreds of thousands of pages for his relevant thoughts. Digital Darwinism Quite the bibliophile, Darwin had over 1480 books in his personal library, of which 730 have comprehensive notes scribbled in the margins; all of these annotated books will eventually end up in the online database. University librarian Anne Jarvis classes these annotations as important as Darwin's letters and manuscripts: "The Darwin collections are among the most important and popular held within Cambridge University Library. "While there has been much focus on his manuscripts and correspondence, his library hasn't always received the attention it deserves – for it is as he engaged with the ideas and theories of others that his own thinking evolved." It's been quite a good week for antiquated books and written works; yesterday the British Library also announced a deal with Google which will see a number of 18 and 19th century works made scanned and added to the Google Books library. <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/106215389713/u/49/f/9809/c/669/s/160e8b11/a2.htm"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/9877/13045304.gif" /></a><img alt="" height="1" src="http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/3167/77769859.gif" width="1" />

Darwin's library goes digital, annotations and all

Charles Darwin's personal library is being digitised and put online by Cambridge University. The digitisation includes all of Darwin...

Report: Apple 'likely to lose' App Store trademark case

Apple is likely to lose its court battle to prevent Amazon using the term Appstore for its mobile app offering, according to the judge presiding over the case. Bloomberg reports that US District Judge Phillys Hamilton admitted that she is "probably" going to deny Apple's request following a hearing in Oakland, California on Tuesday. Judge Hamilton says that Apple has been unable to demonstrate that Amazon's naming has created confusion among consumers. No evidence of confusion During the hearing, she said that Apple had so-far failed to offer "real evidence of actual confusion" among customers which is a "stumbling block" for the company "I'm troubled by the showing that you've made so far, but that's where you're likely not to prevail at this early juncture," she added. Amazon raised the ire of Apple back in March when it decided use the term Appstore for its Android app shop, claiming that its own App Store holds that trademark. Windows win? Amazon wants the trademark infringement case to be dismissed, clearing the way for them, and perhaps others, to use the term. The court proceedings may have implications for Microsoft's ongoing battle to open up the name "Appstore" for its own Windows Phone platform.

Report: Apple 'likely to lose' App Store trademark case

Apple is likely to lose its court battle to prevent Amazon using the term Appstore for its mobile app offering, according to the judge presi...

Samsung Series 5 Google Chromebook hits the UK on Friday

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook, the first laptop to come running the Google Chrome OS, will go on sale in the UK this Friday 24 June. The web-optimised notebook, boasting a 10-second start-up time and 8.5 hours of browsing battery life, will cost £349 for the WiFi-only version and £399 for the 3G-enabled model. The super-slim (0.79cm), lightweight (1.49kg) Series 5 Chomebook comes with just 16GB of memory as it relies on cloud storage and web-based applications, negating the need for lots of storage space. Full-sized Samsung says the 12.1-inch devices has a full-sized keyboard which comes complete with a host of web-enabled keys, including a dedicated search key. There's also a 4-in-1 card-reader on-board, an oversized multi-touch trackpad, two USB ports, a HD webcam and it's powered by an Intel Atom Core-Duo processor. The confirmed release date is great news for tech fans eager to get their first look at the Chrome OS. Both devices have been listed for pre-order since earlier this month, with Amazon touting 1st July and 1st August on-sale dates. Now check out our Samsung Chromebook: 12 things you need to know feature to get you warmed up for Friday. <a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/106215552159/u/49/f/9809/c/669/s/161ad4bb/kg/216/a2.htm"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4569/77381281.gif" /></a><img alt="" height="1" src="http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/132/67456494.gif" width="1" />

Samsung Series 5 Google Chromebook hits the UK on Friday

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook, the first laptop to come running the Google Chrome OS, will go on sale in the UK this Friday 24 June. The w...

Winklevoss twins finally settle with Facebook for £48 million

The Winklevoss twins, who have been engrained into the history of Facebook thanks to the movie The Social Network, have finally accepted a $65 million (£48 million) payout from Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. This comes after the twins decided to re-ignite their feud with Facebook and Zuckerberg – who they initially claimed took the idea of the social network from them – by trying to undo the settlement they agreed on in 2008. In April, however, this was turned down by the Supreme Court and while they were going to appeal in May the twins have now made the decision not to. "After careful consideration [the] appellants no longer oppose issuance of the mandate, and have no objection to vacatur of the stay of issuance of mandate," said the filing. Taking stock The Winklevoss case is one of the more interesting in the tech world, given that it stems from Zuckerberg's time at Harvard with the twins. Originally they accused Zuckerberg of breaking an 'oral contract' with the twins, where he said he would complete work with them on their university social network idea, the Harvard Connection. Instead of completing this website, Zuckerberg went on to make TheFacebook – a social networking site that was originally restricted to Harvard graduates. One of the reasons not to appeal may be to do with the amount of stock on offer. The money bundle has been split as £12.5 million in cash, £28 million in stock. With estimates that Facebook could well be worth £100 billion in 2012, that stock option is now looking a lot more favourable than it did back in 2008.

Winklevoss twins finally settle with Facebook for £48 million

The Winklevoss twins, who have been engrained into the history of Facebook thanks to the movie The Social Network , have finally accepted a ...

British ISPs bicker over plans for fast rural broadband

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3143/btvisiontunnel200200.jpg" /> BT has questioned its competitors' commitments to developing fast broadband across rural Britain, following complaints from other ISPs about BT's control over essential parts of the network. Other British ISPs including TalkTalk and Virgin Media wrote to government minister Ed Vaizey earlier this month to complain about BT's pricing to allow them to access the necessary poles and ducts. The aforementioned group of UK ISPs claimed that BT's prices and terms and conditions for physical infrastructure access will limit the government's plans to roll-out fast broadband to rural Britain. Rural broadband woes The physical infrastructure access (PIA) process should offer rival broadband providers access to poles and ducts to carry fibre broadband to rural Britain. BT's prices are said to be five times as high as the actual costs, according to its competitors. "We are unanimous in the belief that PIA will be a commercial and policy failure if [BT's] Openreach does not revise its prices… the product is unfit to proceed into commercial use," the letter reads. For its part, BT has been quick to issue a statement claiming it is: "The only company who has installed broadband equipment in exchanges serving the last 10% of the UK and so we would question whether these companies are genuinely interested in serving rural Britain given their track record."

British ISPs bicker over plans for fast rural broadband

BT has questioned its competitors' commitments to developing fast broadband across rural Britain, following complaints from other ISPs a...

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo release date revealed

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/Mobile%20Phones/Hands%20on%20pictures/Sony%20Ericsson/Xperia%20Neo/Sony_ericsson_neo_06-200-200.jpg" /> Sony Ericsson is gearing up to choose either the red pill or the blue one with the imminent release of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo. The handset, which launched in February at Mobile World Congress 2011, will be hitting the shelves later this month, with two online retailers mooting release dates of 19 and 20 April. The two retailers in question are Clove and Expansys, both of which are known for early pricing and release date reveals which aren't always hugely accurate. Pricing confusion What's more, there's a little bit of discrepancy in the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo UK pricing on the two sites. Expansys has the SIM-free handset listed at £429.99, while Clove is offering it for a song at £358.80 – although both these prices are subject to change, given that Sony Ericsson hasn't actually revealed its guide pricing. We're also waiting on networks to reveal their contract deals, likely to be around the £25 a month mark.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo release date revealed

Sony Ericsson is gearing up to choose either the red pill or the blue one with the imminent release of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo. The han...

Report: YouTube to spend $100m on original content

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8764/youtubelogo200200.jpg" /> Google is planning to capitalise on the internet TV revolution by turning YouTube into a home for new and original, professionally-produced programming. A report in the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576247060940913104.html">Wall Street Journal</a> claims that Google will reshape the site by spending $100m to commission low cost, original content that will screen exclusively on YouTube. The new look YouTube would be based around a host of new topic-centric channels, each of which would "feature several hours of professionally produced original programming a week." Niche The programming would aim to fill the void between user-uploaded content and the polished, full TV shows on regular TV networks. "Google is hoping to carve out a niche of original, professionally produced Web videos that it hopes will cultivate loyal viewers," says the report. The move would help YouTube keep pace with web TV portals like the BBC iPlayer in the UK and streaming powerhouses like Netflix and Hulu in the US.

Report: YouTube to spend $100m on original content

Google is planning to capitalise on the internet TV revolution by turning YouTube into a home for new and original, professionally-produced ...