Business users can access at-a-glance information, monitor performance against targets and receive alerts of predefined events on the Blackberry mobile phone.

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Researchers at Georgia Tech produced the app – to be made available on Apple and Android devices – based on the Braille writing system.

It is claimed typing with the app is up to six times faster than existing methods for texting without sight.

Access to technology for the visually-impaired is a growing issue due to the proliferation of touchscreens.  Experts say currently available tools, such as Apple’s Voiceover technology, are functional but too slow to be used effectively.

Brailletouch, which the team hope to release in the next couple of weeks, uses a system that is controlled with six fingers and, crucially, does not require any movement of the hands.  “Users who know how to type Braille well never move their hands,” explained Mario Romero, lead researcher on the project.

“When users hold the phone they hold the phone with the screen facing away from them in landscape mode.  They wrap the index, middle and ring finger in each hand around the phone.  It’s not like the Qwerty keyboard where you move up and down. That’s why this thing works – we can get away with only six keys.”

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Following years of arguments between phone companies and regulators, the Competition Appeals Tribunal (Cat) has decreed the scale of the cuts, knocking up to £800m off Britons’ phone bills.

The cuts, which will continue to happen progressively over the next three years will see the cost-per-minute rate fall from 4.18p to 0.65p.  Costs have been falling since April last year.  The final figure is even lower than the recommendation made by Ofcom, who welcomed the ruling, saying it would “reduce significantly termination rates which will bring competition and consumer benefits”.

In the wake of the tribunal’s verdict, Vodafone itself has warned that landline providers BT and Virgin may not be so keen to pass the savings onto its customers.

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Earlier, blogs circulated a photo that appeared to show the back of the next iPad.  The picture, which suggested that the new tablet had already entered production, ignited rumours about the iPad 3.

The New York Times, citing “people briefed on the company’s plans”, said that the next iPad will be “essentially the same size and shape as the iPad 2″ but with a “truly amazing” screen.  The new tablet is expected to have double the screen resolution of the iPad 2 – enough to show a Blu-ray movie in its native resolution and still have pixels to spare. As a result of the new screen, sources claim the next iPad will be about one millimetre thicker than the iPad 2.

It will probably be powered by an A6 chip – the iPad 2 is powered by the A5 – but one technology blog yesterday claimed that the A6 chip will be dual-core and not quad-core as many had predicted.  Though rumours from a variety of sources seem to agree on certain specs for the forthcoming tablet, nothing has been confirmed by official sources.  Apple does not announce anything before its official events.

There are plenty of questions that remain about the supposed iPad 3.  Even the name is in question, with some suggesting that Apple could choose a name that reflects the improved screen resolution, such as ‘iPad HD’.

It’s also not clear, for example, whether the new iPad will have improved cameras, increased storage capacity or Siri – Apple’s voice-controlled personal assistant. As the claimed launch date approaches, we are sure to see rumours about all of those things.

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Global shipments of smartphones surpassed those of PCs for the first time last year according to new figures released by technology analysts Canalys.

In total 488 million smartphones, were shipped throughout the year compared to 414.6 million PCs.

Google’s Android platform accounted for 49 per cent of smartphones shipped in 2011, followed by Apple’s IOS with 19 per cent and Nokia’s Symbian with 16 per cent.

In total 237.8 million Android devices were shipped in 2011 an increase of 244 per cent on 2010.  Canalys said the rise of Android was thanks largely to Samsung shipping 91.9 million devices last year as well as other manufacturers such as Huawei, LG, Sony Ericsson and HTC adopting the platform.

The difference between smartphones and PCs would have been far greater did PC shipments not include tablets, which accounted for 15 per cent or 6.2 million of total PC units.  In the last quarter of 2011 vendors shipped 158.5 million smartphones alone – a rise of 57 per cent from the 101.2 million shipped in the same period in 2010.

Canalys vice president and principal analyst Chris Jones said despite pushing up the amount of units shipped, the growing demand for tablets had contributed strongly to falling PC numbers along with the availability of cheaper smartphones.

“In 2011 we saw a fall in demand for netbooks, and slowing demand for notebooks and desktops as a direct result of rising interest in pads,” Jones said.  “Smart phone shipments overtaking those of client PCs should be seen as a significant milestone.The greater availability of smart phones at lower price points has helped tremendously, but there has been a driving trend of increasing consumer appetite for Internet browsing, content consumption and engaging with apps and services on mobile devices.”

Despite a bumper 2011, Canalys said it expected smartphone shipments to slow as vendors looked to exercise greater cost control and discipline and focus more on profitability.  This will also include manufacturers who have traditionally focused on the low end of the market such as ZTE and Huawei which will concentrate on higher end devices and selling prices.

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Using figures from marketing group GfK that have not been released in detail, the BlackBerry now has 75 million subscribers worldwide, RIM claimed, a 35 percent rise to December 2011.

The BlackBerry’s continued success in the UK is particularly marked, accounting for 8.5 million of its subscribers, giving the company a healthy 27.7 percent market share in the country.

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The ailing Finnish mobile phone manufacturer posted a net loss of €1.07bn (£897m) as its new Windows-based smartphones failed to offset the decline in sales of its traditional handsets, and revenues slumped by 21%. In the same quarter the previous year, the company reported a profit of €745m.

For a long time Nokia reigned as the biggest mobile manufacturer in the world but the last few years have seen it lose ground to Apple’s iPhones and smartphones which run on Google’s Android operating system.

It launched its first credible attempt to reverse this decline late last year, with the debut of the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 – the first devices produced under a strategic partnership with Microsoft and “truly” based on its Windows operating system. The handsets went on sale in Europe and Asia in November, while T-Mobile started offering the 710 in the US in January.

Mr Elop said the devices had sold “well over” a million units since their launch, in line with company expectations, and that it was planning to launch in other territories.

“From this beachhead … you will see us push forward with the sales, marketing and successive product introductions necessary to be successful. We also plan to bring the Lumia series to additional markets including China and Latin America in the first half of 2012,” he said.

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O2 has apologised for a technical problem which caused users’ phone numbers to be disclosed when using its mobile data.  The company said it normally only passed numbers to “trusted partners”.

A problem during routine maintenance meant that from 10 January numbers could have been seen by other websites.  Millions of mobile phone users may have been exposed to internet scams after their numbers were inadvertently sent to every website they visited.

Anxious customers demanded an explanation from network provider O2, which has 22million UK customers, after the massive privacy breach was discovered yesterday.  Users of the Tesco Mobile and giffgaff networks, which share O2’s infrastructure, were also affected by the problem.

It continued for more than a fortnight before a computer programmer alerted the mobile companies after conducting his own investigation. Whenever a mobile user accesses a website from their phone, they share information about it, such as the type of handset, with the site, often unknowingly.  But after a glitch, in many cases O2 also started sending the user’s phone number.

Data protection watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office launched a probe as privacy groups accused O2 of ‘badly letting down’ its customers.

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In one London borough, Islington, police have seen a 400%-plus increase in phone snatches in the space of a year, with the number soaring from 157 in 2010 to 786 in 2011.  The 2011 figure does not include the last two months of the year, which means the total for that one borough last year is likely to be around 1,000.  Other areas have also seen big increases in this type of theft.

Across the UK as a whole, between 250,000 and 300,000 mobile phones are reported stolen each year, according to police figures. However, with many victims never contacting the police, the true figure is probably much higher.

Criminals, often riding bicycles, sometimes even mopeds, and occasionally on foot, are striking at all times of day, and often pass the phones to organised gangs, who ship them abroad to sell on.

In November, the retailer Phones 4u told the City it had suffered a 25% collapse in earnings over the past 12 months, citing the rising number of claims for stolen and lost smartphones, which had dented its traditionally lucrative insurance business.

Detective Inspector Karen Gilmour heads the robbery unit in Islington.  According to the Islington Chamber of Commerce, in November last year alone 126 iPhones were snatched in the borough, many by thieves on bikes and mopeds.  Gilmour describes Islington as a hotspot for phone snatches in the capital, believing the abundance of restaurants, bars and transport hubs, coupled with a mix of economically deprived and wealthy areas, make it extremely attractive to thieves.

“This is a young person’s crime, and I think more and more people are becoming aware that it’s a fairly risk-free crime for the suspects. I think it’s becoming more popular,” she says. “These young kids know what you’ve got. It seems to me they can make an assessment very quickly as to whether the person they’re looking at has got the sort of phone they want. It mostly happens in daylight hours, but it does spill over to the evening as well.”

Gilmour says in the majority of cases the stolen phones are immediately switched off, the sim card removed, and the handset quickly passed on to handlers who ship phones abroad.  The blocks put on handsets by phone operators after they are reported stolen only work in the UK, meaning their value abroad is maintained. In some countries, Gilmour says, it even rises.

“I’ve spoken to an officer who has family in India, and he became aware that it could cost you £600 to buy an iPhone there. But typically we’re hearing of phones being sold on for anywhere between £100 and £200. We do know that some are going to Algeria and India because we have had a couple of investigations.”

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Study volunteers admit their constant checking, rechecking, and triple checking for new notifications has them experiencing phantom vibrations, believing their phone is chirping for attention even in those rare moments it’s not.

Most of the participants originally began using smartphones to keep up with work on the go, which quickly spiraled into 24/7 replies to emails, tweets, and Facebook messages.

Companies are starting to react to the pressures of work-life balance in the face of technology. Volkswagen, for example, shuts off its BlackBerry email server outside of office hours so employees can recharge without a mobile distraction. Are you feeling the stress of being tethered to a smartphone?

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Design
It trims a few millimetres off top and sides and adds another to the depth at 126x65x11mm and the screen size has dropped from 4.7-inches to a 4.3-inches. But the screen is actually much better quality than that of its goliath cousin, offering a resolution of 540×960 pixels (the XL offers 800×580 over a wider screen area). And sure enough, the screen is noticeably sharper, with colours that appear more vivid and contrast more distinct — the loss of 0.4-inches is a small price to pay for the improvement.

Performance and Camera
While the processor on both phones is 1.5GHz, the XE’s is dual-core, so it’s faster and more powerful. That shows in the speed with which you can change between apps (we’re usually talking fractions of a second here though) and in the amount of apps you can run simultaneously before things start to slow down.

The 8-megapixel camera is pretty good for an HTC phone and is much the same as the one on the XL, with a dual-LED flash, autofocus and face detection, as well as “instant capture”, HTC’s clever feature which allows you to take snaps quickly. This main camera is different from the XL’s however because it can record 1080p HD video at 30fps (as opposed to the XL’s 720p). It’s a small difference which you won’t really notice when you play back via the phone, but becomes more noticeable if you transfer your videos to an HDTV. Also, the front facing camera drops from the XL’s 1.3 megapixels to VGA quality.

Audio
The inclusion of hip-hop legend Dr Dre’s Beats Audio technology puts the emphasis on the audio for this handset, via its headphones mostly, and it definitely has something going for it — mostly in the bass, though there’s a striking clarity to the high end too. That won’t necessarily be for everyone though, since its low-end leanings tend to favour dance music rather than acoustic fare, which doesn’t sound quite as crisp in the midrange — it’s still better than you’ll get with just about any headphones supplied with a phone however.

Much like Apple used to do with its look-at-me white earphones, Beats has done with its bright red version, which are now the headphones to be seen with on the street. Fortunately they back up their “mug me” appearance by being very good quality (they use technology from headphone and cable manufacturer Monster), with solid metal casings and noise-isolating grommets — try them with any phone and you’ll hear a definite improvement on the supplied ‘phones.

Memory and Battery Life
Unlike the XL, the XE supports a microSD card so you can add up to 32GB to the paltry 1GB of onboard memory (and it comes with an 8GB card).

The battery is a little heftier than the XL’s too, at least on paper. In practise it didn’t deliver much extra benefit though, running the phone for a little over a day of heavy use.

Conclusion
Of HTC’s two Beats phones, the Sensation XE adds a better screen, faster processor and expandable memory to an 8-megapixel camera, plus it good sounds, all for more or less the same price. If you don’t actually need a huge screen, this is the one to go for. But if you do want a bigger screen, consider the HTC Sensation XL.

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The deal, which will run at no cost to the councils or the taxpayers, sees O2 install transmitters on lamp posts and other street furniture in the boroughs from this month onwards and will be partially operational by the time of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London in June. Initially free access will be concentrated in areas which are especially popular with tourists, ensuring visitors to the London 2012 Olympic Games will be able to avail of the service when sightseeing at some of the capital’s most famous attractions, before being rolled out across the entirety of both boroughs.

This is the first deal of its type to be brokered in the UK but could be followed by similar schemes elsewhere. Speaking at the launch, Derek McManus, O2’s chief operating officer said: “Our longer-term aim is to expand our footprint of O2 Wifi, which is open to everyone, and also intelligently enhance our services at street level, where people need the network the most.”

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Analytics firm Flurry said 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December.

Activity was buoyed by the facts that many users received new devices for Christmas and firms offered discounted apps over the holiday period.

The US was responsible for nearly half of the downloads, followed by China and the UK.  With 81 million downloads, the UK easily surpassed Canada (41 million), Germany (40 million) and France (40 million).  It was beaten to second spot by China with 99 million downloads. The US was out ahead with 509 million.

Flurry thinks this level of download activity will become more standard.  “Looking forward to 2012, Flurry expects breaking the one billion download barrier per week will become more commonplace,” the firm said in its blog.While [Apple] iOS and [Google] Android growth continues to amaze, the market is still by all measures relatively nascent.”

Unsurprisingly, Christmas proved a boom time for device makers. Flurry estimated that nearly seven million Android devices and iPhones were activated on Christmas Day.

Apple does not disclose such figures but Google confirmed that more than 3.7 million Android devices were activated over the Christmas weekend.

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Three UK has continued to be the most complained about mobile operator after Ofcom released its latest complaints data for major telecoms providers during Q3.

Ofcom received 0.14 complaints per 1,000 customers about Three, an amount that didn’t change from the previous quarter.  The regulator said the complaints against Three had been largely driven by disputed charges and customer service issues.

A Three spokesman said: “We have improved the way we handle complaints over the past few months and saw a significant reduction in complaints in the early part of the summer, so it is disappointing to see these results. We will work with Ofcom to better understand the nature of the complaints. Customer service remains a focus for the business.”

The least complained about mobile operator over the period was O2 with o.02 complaints per 1,000 customers, a score the operator has maintained all year.  Ofcom received 0.07 complaints per 1,000 customers for Orange, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile, which was a slight increase for the latter two of the three. Ofcom attributed the rise in complaints against Virgin Mobile to billing and customer service issues.

However mobile complaint levels were much lower than for landline and fixed broadband services.  For example, TalkTalk Group came out on top in both areas, with Ofcom receiving 0.77 and 0.55 complaints per 1,000 customers respectively.

The number of complaints is published as a proportion of each provider’s customer base, which Ofcom said enables customers to compare providers on a level playing field.  The regulator added the quarterly report aims to provide useful information for consumers, and also to incentivise telecoms providers to improve their performance.

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The Korean electronics company said it sold 10 million Galaxy S II smartphones quicker than any previous Samsung mobile device. Its 2011 performance beats that of last year, when the manufacturer sold 280 million handsets thanks in part to the success of the Galaxy S.  The Galaxy S II reached 10 million sales quicker than any other Samsung mobile device.

JK Shin, president and head of Samsung’s mobile communications business said: ‘We look forward to extending this success going into 2012.’

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To mark the moment Google said that for the next 10 days it would cut the price of some top apps to 10p each.  The search giant announced the milestone on its blog adding that the store’s apps were being downloaded at a rate of one billion a month.

However, some industry analysts played down the figure saying Google should do more to address poor-quality programs.  Google said the pace at which apps were being downloaded was starting to accelerate. Its figures show Android took 22 months to reach one billion downloads but only one month to go from nine billion to 10 billion.

By contrast, Apple hit one billion downloads after nine months. Although the iPhone maker still maintains a lead, some experts believe it will be short-lived.  “Apple announced the 15 billion download mark in July so it’s clear that Android’s momentum in device activations is translating to application downloads and usage,” said Geoff Blaber from analysts CCS Insight.  We’d expect Android to overtake Apple in application downloads in the first half of 2012.”

However, added Mr Blaber, such swift growth posed a challenge of how to help customers discover useful software from all the other code on offer.  “It’s an issue for developers and consumers alike but a significant opportunity for whoever solves the problem first,” he said.

Google’s Android smartphone platform became the world’s most popular in early 2011 when it overtook Nokia’s Symbian.  Sales are believed to have been helped by the appearance of Android tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

The celebration of the 10 billionth download will last for 10 days during which Google will pick a series of top programs and drop their prices.  Among the first titles to be discounted are Asphalt 6 HD, Minecraft, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro and Swiftkey X.

Carolina Milanesi, from analysts Gartner, said download numbers were a poor measure of success.  “The number game matters to industry watchers and helps advertising but it is not changing the bottom line,” she said.  “Quality of the apps and the store in general and curation in particular should be the focus for Google,” she said. “This is where I still see a difference between the Apple App Store and Android Market.  This might not impact downloads but it will eventually impact the revenue opportunity for developers.”

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The firm’s Guardian app offers parents the ability to block calls and messages to prevent “cyber bullying” or to transfer bullying text messages to a secure folder to use as evidence when reporting incidents to the police or schools.

It also allows parents to restrict outgoing calls to preset numbers, and specify times during which calls cannot be made or received.  It can also place time limits on the use of specific apps, block access to the the mobile web oor the handset’s camera during specific times.  The app also sends a text message to a parent if the handset is used to call emergency services, but does not record logs of calls to counselling hotlines such as Childline to protect confidentiality.  The app has launched in Egypt, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the UK, with other countries to follow.

Vodafone has also released an app to accompany Guardian, called Digital Parenting, which provides help and advice for parents who want their children to benefit from smartphones hile protecting them from dangers. The Digital Parenting app is now available in the UK, and  will be made available in other countries in the future.  In addition, Vodafone has also introduced a mobile content filter that blocks inappropriate content for under 18s without parental consent

It has also announced it will become a founding member of a pan-European task force, the CEO Coalition, which has been established by European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes to improve child safety online.

Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said, “The smartphone revolution is enormously positive for society, transforming the way millions of people communicate, share and learn. Children and young people have an intuitive understanding of the new world of smartphone communications and the mobile internet.  However, parents who are concerned about the potential risks from cyber-bullying and unsuitable content often lack the tools, support and skills to protect and support their children. The Vodafone Guardian and Digital Parenting apps will empower parents and enhance their ability to share in their children’s digital journey to adulthood.”

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The watchdog warned the telecoms group last month that it could be penalised after an investigation found it had made an excessive number of abandoned calls and had failed to keep adequate records to demonstrate that it complied with the regulator’s rules.

Ofcom and TalkTalk sources now say that the firm is virtually certain to be fined and the only point at issue is the exact sum involved.

The company, which last week disclosed it had lost 43,000 subscribers in the three months to the end of September, is expected to learn the extent of the fine in the New Year.  TalkTalk, Britain’s third-biggest broadband provider, has continued to lose customers, though chief executive Dido Harding said the market should not be concerned and that it was simply taking longer than planned for the company to start rebuilding customer numbers.

The customers were dialled by call centres in Britain and South Africa. TalkTalk said: ‘This was a thirdparty sub-contractor and TalkTalk has ceased business with them. We are looking to recoup any fine from the sub-contractor.’  The problem occurs when consumers are rung automatically from call centres. If there are not enough employees to deal with all of the calls, some will be silent.

Ofcom gave TalkTalk until last week to provide it with information on how it would fix the problem and compensate customers.  The company has now complied with Ofcom’s demand.  TalkTalk was fined £3million earlier-this year for wrongly billing tens of thousands of people for services it had not provided – including former customers who had closed their accounts.  TalkTalk even sent debt collectors to consumers who owed it nothing. It has since paid millions of pounds in compensation.

The £3million fine was one of the largest levied by the regulator.  Many of TalkTalk’s problems are understood to stem from its buyout of Tiscali Uk in 2009 and its attempts to put all of its customers on to a single billing system by its financial year-end the following March.

TalkTalk, which reckons customer fall-off will not end until next year, was spun out of The Carphone Warehouse in March 2010.  Harding forfeited most of her bonus for 2010-11 because of the company’s performance, not only in terms of customer numbers but in customer service.

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According to Department of Education research in Northern Ireland, 15.5% of Year 6 pupils and 17% of Year 9 pupils surveyed have experienced cyber bullying in recent months.

Three-quarters of teachers in post-primary schools surveyed said cyber bullying was more prevalent.

Lee Kane, regional anti-bullying co-ordinator, said anti-bullying week provided a channel for teachers and parents to challenge all bullying methods:  “We are overwhelmed by the interest from both schools and parents in this year’s anti-bullying week,” he said.  “It is a clear indication of the concerns that exist in relation to cyber bullying.  Anti-bullying week is a great opportunity to reinforce key anti-bullying messages for all of those involved in schools – pupils, teachers, support staff and parents.”

Cyber bullying can be exhibited through the use of mobile phones, online gaming, email and social networking.

Anti-bullying week will run until Friday 18 November.

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