Hi, everyone. As many of you know, we released PS3 firmware update v2.40 last week, but had to take it offline temporarily because, for a limited number of users, the XMB wouldn’t display after the update was installed. We’ve been able to fix the problem, and I’m happy to report that firmware update v2.41 will be released shortly.

We want to extend our apologies to the PlayStation community for any inconvenience. Now we’ll be looking forward to seeing everyone online and racking up those trophies!

And just how shortly is it expected? - Go fire up your system and see!

Be sure to report any problems should you encounter any.

Via Playstation Blog

The research, which compiled comments from hundreds of shoppers who had bought the products, will come as a shock to Dyson who have held their market- leading position for the last 11 years in the UK.

In a surprise victory, consumers have rated Numatic’s Hetty as the top vacuum cleaner.  Her counterpart, Henry, also appears on the list in fourth place.

1. Numatic Hetty
2. Bissell 3760E
3. Sebo Automatic X4 Extra
4. Numatic Henry
5. Miele S5260
The full top ten list is available on Reevoo’s blog Decide What to Buy.

Consumers loved Hetty’s ease of use and great performance - a whopping 100% of shoppers who bought the vacuum would recommend it. There were hardly any negative comments other than one reviewer commenting on its weight and another saying that they would prefer a bagless design.

Although Miele only got one model in the top five, they dominated the top ten with a total of five machines on the list. Most reviews for the Miele vacuums mentioned their superior suction.

In a bid to find out what kept Dyson out of the top five, Reevoo looked more closely into the reviews from shoppers. A breakdown of all the results by category is available here.

Reviewers rated the Dysons highly for performance and design but marked them down for ease of use - citing their weight and height as negatives.

Numerous reviewers found their Dyson hard to move around and, in the case of the Dyson DC071, its head “stops you getting close to certain edges, ie: under plinths, under tables etc”.

They were also criticised for the fact that you had to empty them too often, they were noisy and that their hoses were too short.

In a final blow for Dyson, one reviewer left this comment about Numatic’s Hetty: “easy to use and picks up brilliantly. Had 3 Dysons and this beats them all!!”

The research, which compiled comments from hundreds of shoppers who had bought the products, will come as a shock to Dyson who have held their market- leading position for the last 11 years in the UK.

In a surprise victory, consumers have rated Numatic’s Hetty as the top vacuum cleaner.  Her counterpart, Henry, also appears on the list in fourth place.

1. Numatic Hetty
2. Bissell 3760E
3. Sebo Automatic X4 Extra
4. Numatic Henry
5. Miele S5260
The full top ten list is available on Reevoo’s blog Decide What to Buy.

Consumers loved Hetty’s ease of use and great performance - a whopping 100% of shoppers who bought the vacuum would recommend it. There were hardly any negative comments other than one reviewer commenting on its weight and another saying that they would prefer a bagless design.

Although Miele only got one model in the top five, they dominated the top ten with a total of five machines on the list. Most reviews for the Miele vacuums mentioned their superior suction.

In a bid to find out what kept Dyson out of the top five, Reevoo looked more closely into the reviews from shoppers. A breakdown of all the results by category is available here.

Reviewers rated the Dysons highly for performance and design but marked them down for ease of use - citing their weight and height as negatives.

Numerous reviewers found their Dyson hard to move around and, in the case of the Dyson DC071, its head “stops you getting close to certain edges, ie: under plinths, under tables etc”.

They were also criticised for the fact that you had to empty them too often, they were noisy and that their hoses were too short.

In a final blow for Dyson, one reviewer left this comment about Numatic’s Hetty: “easy to use and picks up brilliantly. Had 3 Dysons and this beats them all!!”

Pro Plus has launched a new festival-themed flash game Festival Pro – http://www.dont-miss-out.co.uk - that allows you to use the rhythm skills you learned playing Guitar Hero. Competitors need speedy fingers to hit the arrows in time and make the festival characters dance and juggle.

With V Festival acts The Young Knives and The Rifles providing the soundtrack, it’s a great way to wile away those last few minutes at the computer. By going to the website, and entering the draw, you will also get a chance to win tickets to this year’s sold-out V Festival.

Every week a prize draw for 4 VIP tickets takes place.  The tickets get you into the gig & a VIP camping site at the event Winners will be chosen at random from people who play the game and submit their details. This year’s V Festival promises to be a real highlight of the music calendar, with Muse and the Verve spearheading a fantastic line-up.

Brian Stewart, brand manager of Pro Plus, said: “If you like gaming and you love music, then we’re sure you’ll love this game. It’s amazingly addictive and by taking part, you can be sure you don’t miss out on winning tickets to one of the hottest music events of the Summer.”

Visit http://www.dont-miss-out.co.uk to try it out. The competition will run until August 8th.

Uniross has just announced the launch of a new range of eco-friendly battery chargers. With gadgets an everyday part of people’s lives, an unfortunate side effect is that 660 million batteries end up in landfill sites every year. Our increasing reliance on portable power means the last thing you want to worry about is carrying spare batteries, so Uniross is making battery charging a way of life with a new range that allows you to recharge your batteries anytime, anywhere.

 
If you’re in a hurry, use the new 15 minute charger at home to save time and the environment. Or, if you’re lying on the beach, you can recharge your batteries with the new Uniross Solar Charger. Never again be caught short on a long train ride with no power and an MP3 player of songs; simply plug in the new Uniross Pod portable power pack…and why take a separate alarm clock on your travels when Uniross now has a charger that incorporates a travel clock?
 
“Our customers have told us they want to recharge batteries wherever they are – with convenience and simplicity the key,” said Mike Doole, Managing Director of Uniross. “Ultimately we want people to ditch their disposable lifestyles so we hope the new additions to our range inspire people to do exactly that.”
 
Uniross is the only battery brand endorsed by the WWF. “Throwing away batteries wastes precious resources and adds to environmental pollution,” said Colin Butfield, Head of Campaigns at WWF-UK. “Recharging is a simple way people can reduce their impact on the environment, which is a key aim of WWF’s One Planet Future campaign. Even better, a charger that uses the ultimate renewable energy source - the sun - means you can recharge whilst you’re on the move.”
 
With Uniross’ multiusage range, incorporating Hybrio technology you can now use the batteries straight out of the packet because they are pre charged. So they’re as convenient as a disposable battery, but when they run out you can just recharge them again and again … up to 1,000 times!
 
The new additions to the Uniross range are:
 
- Solar Charger
With USB adaptor                                                                                    
RRP £39.99
 
- 15 Minute Charger
For a faster charge: charges any battery in less than 15 minutes          
RRP £34,99
 
- NOMAD Charger
Your portable power hub: with USB adaptor                                           
RRP £19.99
 
- Wind Charger
Wind powered portable power with bike mount, integrated Li-Ion battery with
USB output and phone and game connectors                 
RRP £49.99
 
- Travel Clock Charger
Charges any battery in less than 3 hours, while you sleep                     
RRP £29.99
 
- Universal Chargers (2 models)
1.  Charges between 1 and 4 AA / AAA / C / D batteries                            
From £10.99
2.  Premium: Charges any RECHARGEABLE battery in less than 3 hours           
RRP £29.99
 
The new range of Uniross chargers is available from August from good electrical, department, supermarket and hardware stores and internet retailers.

Fujitsu Services, one of Europe’s leading IT services companies, will this week open its newest secure data centre. The £44 million data centre has proven environmental and sustainability credentials at its core – not only is it the first in Europe to be independently certified to the Uptime Institute’s international Tier III standard*, but it will nearly halve the energy used by previous data centres. 

Based within 35 miles of London it will serve the data centre needs for public and private organisations across both the UK and Europe, helping customers to overcome their data centre capacity problems, saving them from the lengthy delays and local planning restrictions involved in building or extending their own data centre facilities.

• The new data centre is a brown field development utilising a refurbished warehouse, to further reduce the environmental impact compared to a new building on green fields.
• When fully loaded the data centre will achieve a power usage efficiency (PUE) rating of 1.6 (62% DCiE)** compared to previous data centres at PUE 3.0. (33% DCiE) - this is  nearly double the efficiency of previous data centres.

The data centre has been equipped with high efficiency mechanical and electrical infrastructure that offers the best return on investment for Fujitsu’s customers. The data centre’s new features will save enough electricity to power 2,000 households a year. These  features include:
- Evaporation towers and heat exchangers more efficiently remove heat from the data centre systems than traditional air conditioning systems.
- Heat pumps pre-heat incoming fresh air up to operational temperatures as it enters the data centre, reusing heat extracted from the technical halls.
- Spray humidification - the technical hall air uses low energy spray humidifiers in the air inlets to the technical halls, instead of traditional steam humidification.
- Variable fans and pumps in the cooling system make a significant energy saving even when the data centre is at full capacity, by matching the cooling provided to the actual cooling needs of the data halls.
- Diesel Rotary UPS (DRUPS) maintain the electricity supply to the whole data centre when a GRID blackout occurs. DRUPS consume less electricity than current UPS systems – providing a constant saving in energy usage every year.

Additionally, Fujitsu will reduce the power consumption of the customer IT systems housed in the new data centre through an IT Optimisation Programme. By consolidating the IT systems within the data centre power consumption and cost savings of up to 50% can be achieved. When complete the IT optimisation programmes will save enough power for up to 4,000 homes each year. 

In total Fujitsu’s new data centre facility and IT optimisation programmes will each year save enough electricity to power up to 6,000 homes, equivalent to 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and significantly reduce the cost of IT for business.

Martin Provoost, Fujitsu Services head of data centres said: “Fujitsu’s new data centre combines high resilience and high efficiency, which is difficult to achieve as these two factors often oppose each other. Attaining high resilience requires more redundant infrastructure, which in turn consumes more energy. However, through new proven technology, Fujitsu’s London North data centre achieves both the optimum resilience level and a leading efficiency rating.”

June 24, 2008 – Eastman Kodak Company today announced that Duggan Steel Group has installed Filestream’s electronic document management (EDM) system and eight duplex i1220 workgroup scanners to manage the vast amount of paperwork generated as part of ongoing operations supplying steel and steel-related products to the whole of Ireland’s agricultural and construction industries.  The project has been completed by Filestream reseller, Woodsoft Limited. 

One of Ireland’s largest steel stock holding companies and a top 3 supplier of steel roofing and cladding in the country, Duggan Steel Group is privately-owned, headquartered in Kilkenny, with depots in Cork and Limerick.  Founded in 1976, it employs 120 staff in three divisions: Duggan Steel (steel stockholding[1]), Duggan Profiling (steel sheet roof and wall products[2]) and Duggan Service Centre (steel sheet slitting, blanking and recoiling[3]).  Across the group, 100,000 tonnes of steel-based product is sold annually, with some 20,000 tonnes always in stock ready to be delivered. 

James Flavin, Duggan Steel’s group IT manager, says, “Steel is bought from all over Europe, India and south west China, and based on our 30 year plus experience in the steel business coupled with thorough forecasting, we ensure that the right stock is always available to customers at the right time. This means we can provide a JIT[4]-like service, normally delivering anywhere in Ireland within 24 hours of an order which few competitors can achieve.”

Easy management and quicker retrieval of steel test certificates was the initial driver behind investing in an EDM and scanner solution.  Test certificates document the exact chemical and mechanical properties of steel batches and associated products made from it.  Flavin explains, “Builders want to know that the steel they are buying is strong enough based on its iron, zinc and copper make up, for example, and we process 80 to 90 test certificates a week, totalling over 4,000 annually. As various products may be covered by one certificate and, as we have to keep this information for up to 7 years, we were storing thousands of pieces of paper which made it difficult and time consuming to retrieve information when details had to be checked for customers.”

Prior to starting the EDM project, Duggan Steel wanted to install a new company-wide bar coding system so that steel received on site could be assigned a unique bale number (an identification number) and then all documentation linked to it.  Flavin explains, “When steel arrives from say China, it has a supplier number on it which is logged onto our Sea Change ERP system listing the product and tonnage, and a bale ID and barcode are produced.  The initial batch may have an ID of say 50,000/1, and then every product produced from it is given a sequential number, so 50,000/2, 50,000/3 and so on.  With a barcode stuck to each item, this allows us to trace back to the original piece of steel, the supplier and the test certificate when required.”

Following a competitive tender, Duggan Steel selected Filestream’s EDM solution given it offered value for money, had the capability to add bar coding, workflow and reporting modules to the system (all of which have been purchased) and used a familiar Windows-based GUI so that minimal user training would be required.  Responsive reseller support from Woodsoft was also a factor in the choice.  

Eight duplex Kodak i1220 workgroup scanners have been installed at Duggan Steel’s main sites in the Kilkenny area (Tullamaine and Kilkenny City) for use by staff involved in purchasing, sales, stock control and administration, in a deal worth £35,000[5]. 

Flavin says, “Compared to the flatbed scanners we originally had, the Kodak scanners are compact, reliable, easily handle the paper throughput quantities and offer great quality images even if set at low dpi.”

Running on two dedicated Microsoft SQL Servers, one based at each main Kilkenny site for resilience, the Filestream EDM system and Kodak scanners are radically changing the way that Duggan Steel operates day-to-day, delivering considerable organisational efficiencies and cost savings. 

In the centralised purchasing department, a laborious and inefficient paper-chain of handling some 4,000 supplier invoices annually has been removed.  Flavin explains, “Historically, a supplier’s invoice would arrive at HQ, be sent via courier or internal post to the respective businesses for sign off and then be returned back for final payment and filing – a process which could take up to 3 weeks.  Now, this is completely automated, utilising the workflow incorporate into Filestream.  So, when an invoice is received, it’s scanned and sent instantly to a manager with an onscreen ‘pop up’ and email alerting its arrival.  Staff can then digitally authorise payment, and the document stored on the system.”

Sales staff are the biggest users of the scanners as there are six documents associated with each sale, four of which are scanned - picking list, loading docket, delivery docket, and proof of delivery form. The other two items, invoice and statement, are produced automatically by the Sea Change ERP system and stored straight into Filestream. As Duggan Steel produces some 50,000 sales invoices per annum, this means 200,000 scanned items yearly.

In terms of stock control, all test certificates are now scanned for easy search and retrieval, along with bale IDs, in case of subsequent damage.  Similarly, from an administrative perspective, wage slips, and supplier credit applications are today stored electronically. 

The EDM project allows Duggan Steel to immediately shred paperwork once it has been scanned, with only the customer signed proof of delivery docket now kept for 7 years for legal reasons.  The company is back scanning ‘old’ documentation into the system and shredding this material as well.  In the five months since January 2008, 26,000 documents per month have been scanned, equating to 130,000 older items now available online.  

Jolyon Wilkinson, Filestream’s sales director, explains other benefits, “Duggan Steel has been able to reduce the number of people involved in paperwork management from three to one, with the other staff redeployed elsewhere in the business.  Paper produced as part of day-to-day trading has reduced considerably, and the speed of information retrieval is almost instantaneous whereas previously it was estimated that 14 hours per week were spent by administrative staff looking for paperwork.  The company has been able to convert storage areas into new office space, and reckons that, given these benefits, that the system will pay for itself within 15 months.” 

Similarly, sales staff now have up-to-date information available securely on their laptops when visiting clients which makes them far more efficient and effective. 

Moving forward, Duggan Steel will add additional workflow capabilities to Filestream to improve staff collaboration in other departments and is considering offering searchable CD-ROMs to larger clients containing statements along with other client specific information. 

Flavin concludes, “The success of the whole project is evidenced by the fact that staff were enthusiastic to work with the new system. We went from no document management to an enterprise system within 2 months and couldn’t have done this if the Filestream software and Kodak scanners weren’t easy to use.  That says it all.”

Jonathan Tripp, Kodak’s document imaging marketing manager, UK & EAMER, said, “While extremely compact, the Kodak i1220 packs a performance punch coping with 30 pages per minute or up to 1,500 pages daily, all backed by a 3-year warranty. Easy to use, feature-rich, with Perfect Page image quality meaning rescanning is virtually unheard of, we’re delighted that Duggan Steel is using Kodak scanners to improve its organisational performance.”

Cambridge, UK – June 19, 2008. Velocix™ (www.velocix.com), provider of the world’s leading Digital Asset Delivery Network, today announced that it has been selected by Ether Digital to provide advanced web video delivery services for their Miomni digital entertainment platform. Miomni is Ether Digital’s “white-label” solution that enables global brands and content owners to create their own bespoke broadcast quality web TV channels.

The combination of the Miomni platform and the Velocix Digital Asset Delivery Network provides a flexible, high performance solution that makes it super easy for entertainment brands to create and deliver compelling on-demand video services over the Internet. Currently, the Miomni platform uses the Velocix Video Streaming service for on-demand video delivery in Windows Media format.  Plans are already underway to extend this to include live streaming and download video services, all delivered by Velocix.

One of the first to take advantage of the combined solution is Frank Warren and the recently announced Queensberry Fight Network Channel. This new broadband TV service will be launched on the 21st June and will be available on Microsoft’s Media Center offering an extensive boxing video catalogue together with exclusive pre-fight build-up coverage and behind the scenes footage.

Frank Warren, Chairman of the Queensberry Fight Network said, “The Network will provide fans with Internet access to some of the world’s greatest fights at the touch of a button. We believe that this channel will excite the next generation of boxing enthusiasts by offering greater access to the history and future of this sport.”

Phill Robinson, Velocix CEO, added, “We’re delighted to partner with Ether Digital and look forward to engaging jointly with entertainment brands as they look to exploit the video web as an effective communications channel to their global audiences. The combination of the Miomni platform and the Velocix Digital Asset Delivery Network provides a world-class solution that enables the rapid creation and delivery of web TV cannels, such as the Queensberry Fight Network, offering exclusive footage not previously available via conventional TV broadcasting.”

Mike Venner, CEO at Ether Digital, commented, “Our partnership with Velocix provides us with an industry leading content delivery network to enable advanced download, on-demand and live streaming delivery services to a global audience.”

The Velocix Network is designed to enable content owners, studios, and broadcasters to deliver video and other large digital assets, such as software, games and audio over the web, with unprecedented performance, breakthrough economics and an asset delivery lifecycle management system that provides content owners the control, analytics and reporting they need to manage their asset libraries through the digital distribution chain.

London, United Kingdom; San Francisco, CA, USA; Milan, Italy

June 18, 2008: Blue Telephony, creator of the Onyx line of innovative mobile phones, and CPS Group Italia a leading system integrator for mobile solutions, announced the development of a new generation of green phones, capable of sensing, and displaying CO2 concentrations.

Blue Telephony, and CPS Group Italia announced today their joint initiative to collaborate on a new range of mobile phones, and accessories, attuned to the needs of those consumers who are concerned about the quality of the environment surrounding them. The collaboration focuses on the development of integrated sensor technologies, starting with CO2 concentration sensing, and the visualization techniques that make the data collected easily understandable by non-technical users.

“We are very excited to be able and extend our Onyx product line with these innovative devices,” said Zafar Mirza, CEO of Blue Telephony, “offering them to our customers who are very sensitive to the quality of their environment!”

“Once again, our cooperation with Blue Telephony is strengthened by the addition of leading solutions, well integrated into the Onyx product line.” added Fabio Salierno, CEO of CPS Group Italia.

The phones’ sensor data management functionality will be based on the OpenSpime technology platform developed by WideTag, Inc., the infrastructure company for an Open Internet Of Things. “OpenSpime is an enabling technology platform, and we are glad that CPS Group Italia and Blue Telephony chose us for providing value to their customers” added Leandro Agro, CEO of WideTag, Inc.

June 16, 2008 – Eastman Kodak Company today announced that Crownlea Group, a major supplier of products to the construction industry, is installing the latest version of Filestream’s electronic document management (EDM) software, along with 40 simplex Kodak i30 workgroup scanners at its 16 locations throughout the country. In a deal worth £30,000, this has created a centralised storage system for all business paperwork generated by the various operating companies within the group, resulting in improved staff and organisational efficiency and faster response to customer queries.  

With turnover in excess of £30 million, Crownlea Group employs 500 staff and is made up of various companies in the UK, Ireland and France specialising in servicing specific areas of the construction industry throughout Europe.

Through Crownlea Site Fixings, thousands of products used for site fixings[1] are sold, along with temporary fencing and steel hoarding systems, supplied by Crownlea’s Blok N Mesh business. Founded in 1969, the company has grown organically and through acquisition purchasing Tiger Supplies Ltd (a provider of PPE[2] , first aid, canteen, fire fighting equipment, signs and so on), Protecta Screen Ltd (a specialist manufacturer and distributor of temporary protection products for use on building sites) and Package-In Ltd (a supplier of tapes, boxes, bubble wraps and protective stretch film). 

Roulla Brownless, Crownlea’s group IT manager, says, “Not only did each company acquired have its own paper-based filing system and process, but getting paperwork from the different businesses located all over the place was time consuming and difficult as each location held client paperwork.  So, a big client ordering say from both our Birmingham and Aberdeen depots would have documentation in two places.  The time was right to go electronic and install a group-wide EDM solution to cut down on the obvious administrative overhead managing all this.”

Crownlea Group selected Filestream because it was easy-to-use, Microsoft Windows-based and offered value for money.  Running on a mid-range HP server located at head office in London, staff access the Filestream data base from around the country using a secure VPN connection and Filestream client software on their desktops.  Some 40 employees are responsible for the scanning of documents into the system, with 100 in sales, accounts and management using Filestream day-to-day. 
         
Today, one person is employed in an auditing role to visit depots and ensure that Filestream is being properly populated, and older documentation scanned into the system with paperwork then shredded. 

The 40 simplex Kodak i30 scanners are installed throughout the business at 16 depots including 3 main branch locations (London head office, Braintree and Liverpool) with one duplex Kodak i60 also deployed at head office. Roulla Brownless says, “Filestream recommended Kodak to us and the scanners have been easy to roll out.  They’ve done exactly what we expected.  You plug them in, turn them on, put paper through and that’s it, they’re simple to use and just work day after day.”

Jolyon Wilkinson, Filestream’s sales director, says, “All client documentation generated by the various businesses is being scanned into the system including: delivery and collection notes, supplier invoices, contracts, along with internal documentation such as meeting minutes and proposals.  Different “cabinets” in the system are created to store this based on depot location and documentation type, with access rights set up so that only the right people view things, with system security therefore maintained.” 

Roulla Brownless, says, “Searching for things is now easy.  You can do this by client name, order or contract number and date ranges, and Filestream will pull up all associated documents. Without doubt, efficiency has increased and customer perceptions of us have improved, too.  That’s gold dust and a huge bonus for the company.  If some-one phones in with an order query, we have all the relevant information at our finger tips, rather than in the old days, when there was a considerable amount of scrabbling about to get it.”

Crownlea Group first installed Filestream in Q1 2005, with the company now upgrading to version 4 of the software in a project expected to be completed by July 2008.  Over 500,000 documents have been “back scanned” which has given staff a fuller picture of client accounts over time, plus allowed bulky paper documents to be shredded and office space released. 

Roulla Brownless concludes, “As with any change in process and way of doing things, there was a little resistance across the business to deploy an EDM solution in the beginning.  But the Filestream software and Kodak scanners have been surprisingly good, and really accepted by staff who now understand the benefits of using them.  That’s been amazing and is testament to the success of the project.”

Moving forward, Crownlea Group is looking at installing Filestream in its French business, and integrating it with its UNIX-based Insitu 6 accounts, ordering and stock control system from MCS.  Currently, staff take invoices produced in Institu and scan them into Filestream, so integrating the two systems will clearly be more efficient and allow invoices to be sent to clients based on their specific requests, in other words via email, EDI[3] or fax. 

Jonathan Tripp, Kodak’s document imaging marketing manager, UK & EAMER, said, “With thousands and thousands of products to account for and supply, no wonder a feature-rich EDM solution like Filestream is making such an impact for Crownlea Group.  We’re delighted to play our part on the project. Clients want scanners to be easy to use, simple to manage from an IT perspective, with quality scans produced time after time.  That’s the experience Kodak brings after 80 years of working with business documents.”

June 12th 2008: Photobox, the UK’s number one online community for photo printing and personal publishing, today reveals the findings of a recent poll looking at celebrity fathers. Mark Chapman, UK MD, said: “The Great British psyche is increasingly driven by the realms of celebrity, hunger for stardom and a barrage of reality TV shows – from Big Brother, to Britain’s Got Talent. There are new celebs popping up on a weekly basis. So, we thought in the run up to Father’s Day 2008 it would be great to ask people how they rate the UK’s celebrity fathers.” David Beckham remains at the top of the style stakes with 69% of respondents voting him as the most fashionable celebrity father. Beckham’s new best mate – Brad Pitt – came in second and scooped 20% of the votes. Perhaps the famous footballer’s styling tips are rubbing off on the US icon. In contrast, Brad wiped the floor with Beckham when it came to the sexy stakes. The one and only Mr Pitt won with just over half of all votes (51%) for the sexiest celebrity father accolade. Beckham came in second with a quarter (25%) closely followed by Jude Law, Jonny Depp, Will Smith and George Clooney – equal at around 6% each. The most irresponsible celebrity father is perceived to be Michael Jackson with a little over 1-in-3 votes (35%). Cartoon character Homer Simpson ranked quite high with 10% of the total vote for this category. Other fathers who were nominated by more than 150 respondents each include; Liam Gallagher, Pete Doherty, Kevin Federline, Keith Allen and Eddie Murphy. Maybe there’s a niche business offering of a ‘celebrity father responsibility class’? The overall winner of ugliest celebrity father goes to Boom Town Rat, Bob Geldof with 1-in-4 votes. Maybe the ‘urban grunge’ look is misunderstood by the masses? The UK’s Prime Ministers – past and present – fared poorly within this category. Tony Blair secured 9% and Gordon Brown 16% of votes for least attractive celebrity father. The poll is a light hearted look at the UK’s perceptions of famous fathers. Why not treat your father to a personalised gift from Photobox and show how much you care. Go to www.photobox.co.uk and join the digital image revolution.

Stockholm, June 12, 2008. Momail is again first to offer support for the latest, and long awaited, mobile devices, this time from Apple and Samsung. As the handset specifications were officially released after the companies’ respective launches on June 9th, Momail can confirm support for the new iPhone 3G and the Omnia. 

”These devices will sell large volumes and their specifications makes them very suitable for consumer mobile email and Momail. Our server based solution gives us the possibility to add support for new devices very fast and today we support over 80 percent of devices shipped. So, with Momail, iPhone and Omnia users will soon be able to enjoy the world’s smallest, smartest and most cost-effective mobile email, says Roger Grönberg, CEO of Momail. 

Momail mobile email on iPhone and Omnia;
• Ease of use - Momail is very easy to start and to use, and there is no need for special client software or downloads. All email and data settings are automatically configured by Momail.
• Fast and data efficient – Momail´s patented MMOPE-technology (Mobile Message Optimization & Protection Engine) optimizes all emails, including attachments, per mobile model saving up to 99,9% of the data sent to the mobile device.
• No tolerance of spam - Included in the service is world class mobile spam and virus protection (IronPort).
• Your mobile postman - With Momail, all emails can be collected and read from one inbox on the mobile phone (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.). This feature provides consumers with simple control and easy handling of their email accounts.

More “super mobiles” to come
Momail have already launched support for a number of other “super mobiles” which  will soon  be on the market, including the HTC Touch Diamond, LG Secret, Nokia N96 and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.

More information
Lars Aase, mobil +46 701 44 18 22, lars.aase@momail.com. 
 

There is considerable speculation about what next to expect from Apple’s iPhone ahead of CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco on Monday.

“The iPhone could become the mobile video delivery device of choice for many consumers, by providing a compelling mobile TV and video proposition before mobile broadcasting networks, such as DVB-H become widely available”, says Mark Heath, co-author of the new Analysys Mason report iPhone Shows the Way for Mobile TV.

Many operators are offering mobile TV services, using 3G streaming, but these are constrained by lack of coverage, relatively poor quality of service and 3G capacity limitations (as 3G networks may only support relatively low penetrations of mobile TV users).

Market research shows that many iPhone owners have accessed TV and video content, with greater frequency than subscribers using other types of mobile handsets. With added 3G capability, the iPhone will bring the following highly attractive attributes to the mobile TV market.

- Video-friendly specifications, including high-quality widescreen display, substantial internal memory and low battery consumption.
- Access to a rapidly increasing range of TV and video content provided by Apple or specifically optimised for the iPhone. By May 2008, the iTunes Store had a catalogue of 600 TV programmes and over 1500 films and, by April 2008, Apple iTunes had sold 125 million TV programmes.
- The ability to support multiple methods of delivering TV and video content, including sideloading, indoor WLAN and high-speed 3G cellular data access. Sideloading and indoor WLAN minimises the amount of TV and video traffic that needs to be carried on 3G networks, allowing 3G operators to support high rates of mobile TV penetration.

While iPhone take-up has been relatively modest, with cumulative sales of about 5.4 million units by the end of March 2008, this is due to Apple’s initial strategies of constraining worldwide availability and launching exclusively with a single operator in each market. As Apple moves away from these restrictive distribution strategies, there could be substantial growth in the number of iPhones sold.

“If the iPhone is able to achieve significant worldwide market share, it will be well-positioned to have a significant impact on the way mobile subscribers purchase and watch mobile TV and video content,” adds Dr Alastair Brydon, co-author of the report.

The report iPhone Shows the Way for Mobile TV is available to purchase online at http://store.analysys.com, priced at GBP1700 (approximately EUR2165) plus VAT.

To arrange and interview with the author or to request a press summary for the report please contact the Analysys Mason press office on +44 (0)1223 460600 or email press@analysysmason.com.

MCM Eur’08 replicates a real life football manager’s role and as any good manager knows, training is half the battle to any successful football campaign. MCM allows managers to train their team as a squad or as individuals through a range of unique interactive offline training games including weight-training, shot stopping and ball control. The more the players train, the better they will perform on match day; over train them and fatigue sets in. Managers then select the players they want to start, the team formation and the playing strategy. With the key decisions made and the team sheet submitted to MCM, it’s then a question of waiting for the results. MCM Eur’08 is played on a real time basis where managers will receive blow-by-blow updates of their team’s progress via SMS.  The result will depend on the management skills of the individual in the dug out. 

For a free trial of MCM Eur‘08, text “GoMCM” to 60777. The introductory free trial includes 10 SMS messages (see MCM Eur’08 Terms and Conditions before registering www.mobileclubmanager.com)
 
“It’s well documented that this summer was going to be a huge disappointment for every England football fan. We believe that MCM Eur’08 can give the excitement back to those fans via their mobiles,” says Shahid Mohamed, head of programme management at SANCO.

Based on the incredible true story, The Express follows the inspirational life of college football hero Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. Following his draft by the NFL, tragedy struck the inspirational life of college football hero Ernie Davis (Rob Brown), the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. Following his draft by the NFL, tragedy struck the star athlete and he was never able to take the professional field. But his tale would forever change the face of professional sports.
 

Hits theaters 14 November 2008
 

Trailer