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Flush away the Eco Slums
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Andrew Orlowski
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Who would have guessed that in 2008, a pledge to give British people flushing toilets would be a shock vote winner? The Conservatives this week promised to scrap the Government’s plans for 15 “eco towns” which will potentially house 100,000 people. These have been heralded as a new era in design, but you need to…
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Legal P2P ‘by year end’
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Andrew Orlowski
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Legal broadband subscription services that permit file sharing may appear on the market by the year’s end, according to music industry sources – after government intervention brought both music suppliers and ISPs to the table. The UK would become the second country after South Korea where the music business has agreed to offer licenses to…
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Farewell then, Symbian
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Andrew Orlowski
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Ten years ago to the day, I attended the surprise foundation of Symbian. I was in Norway and sorry to miss the event today that closed the chapter – and probably the book – on the great adventure. I find it exquisitely ironic that the philosophy behind the decision to end Symbian’s independent existence as…
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How the iPhone puts a bomb under mobile networks
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Andrew Orlowski
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If you think everything that could have been written about the iPhone already has been written, prepare to be surprised. One vital aspect of Apple’s strategy has been overlooked – with multi-billion consequences for complacent network operators. Over at Telco 2.0, the blog of analysts STL Partners, we learn that networks who partner with Apple…
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EMI hires the Biggest Brain in Sadville
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Andrew Orlowski
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How desperate is EMI? Desperate enough to hire the co-founder of Sadville? Amazingly, yes. Not only is a graphics programmer joining the storied British music group as head of “digital strategy” – he cheerfully admits he doesn’t know anything about the music business. And he doesn’t even like music – he’s only bought five albums…
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Why didn’t Nokia become the next Sony?
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Andrew Orlowski
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When, a few years ago, I described Sony and Nokia as the only two companies who could call the shots in consumer electronics, a few eyebrows were raised. Sony, yes. But Nokia? I anticipated that success in smartphones would be a beachhead into a bunch of other consumer electronics markets. Few noticed that Nokia already…