BT expands plans for 100Mbps fiber-to-the-home
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British Telecom is widening it plans to install "fiber-to-the-premises." Previously, customers with existing copper lines were not included in the immediate plans, however, BT is ahead of schedule and will now have the super-fast cabling deployed to 1.5 million homes in the UK by next summer. One-sixth of the population, about 10 million homes, is expected to have 100Mbps fiber optic service by 2012.
Kindle likely to launch in UK next week
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"Authoritative sources" are signalling that Amazon is ready to release the Kindle in the UK, and expect the official announcement before the Frankfurt Book Fair kicks off on October 14th. The speculatation is that the delay is likely due to time needed for Qualcomm to engineer a wireless solution in the UK. No word yet from Amazon on pricing or which Kindle models are planned to arrive.
Palm Pre available in UK on October 16
A release date for the Palm Pre has officially been confirmed for UK mobile phone users. The Pre will release on the O2 network on October 16th and will be free with a 2-year contract. On a sidenote, O2 is the same UK network Apple's iPhone is offered under.
UK’s T-Mobile and Orange to merge
In a move that would make T-Mobile and Orange the largest UK mobile provider, the two companies are completing a merger deal that would be signed in November. Combined, the new company would hold 37% of the UK mobile market equalling 28.4 million subscribers.
Windows 7 to be significantly less expensive in UK than US
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TechVi guest Nate Lanxon is reporting over at CNET UK that the British editions of Windows 7 Home Premium (full editions, mind you, not upgrades) will cost about £65, or around $106, compared with the US price of $120 for the upgrade, and $200 for the full OS.
Xbox Live game show 1 vs 100 proves popular
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1 vs 100, the Xbox Live game which takes the Bob Saget hosted TV show and lets any Xbox Live Gold member participate, has seen some pretty notable nights– specifically, in North America, the game has seen 230,000 participants in one night, and 114,000 simultaneous participants. Overall, the game has had 2.5 million downloads, and has seen some overseas success too, with 215,000 European participants in one night, and 79,000 simultaneous participants in the UK and Ireland.
London is the top Twitter city
Twitter's CEO and co-founder Evan Williams told the BBC in an interview that London is the top Twitter city. He also revealed that the UK was the second largest twitter using country behind only the US although he did not share any user numbers or future functionality. He also called the recent, "dehumanizing" criticism by archbishop Vincent Nichols, "silly."
Apple exchanges silence for exploding iPod refund
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UK resident Ken Stanborough contacted Apple after his 11-year-old daughter's iPod touch exploded, going "10 feet in the air," to ask for a refund. Apple, in response, sent a letter stating that it would give Stanborough a refund, but only if in exchange he agreed to keep quiet about the incident, under threat of legal action. Instead Stanborough went public to the UK's TimesOnline, and needless to say, we're glad he did.
Notorious UK hacker extradited to US, facing 70 years in prison
Gary McKinnon might not sound like a familiar name, but the UK hacker managed to gain access to 97 computers among the US Navy and NASA back in 2002, and now he'll face a state-side trial with the possibility ot 70 years of jail-time in a high security prison. McKinnon is one of the first people to be extradited for a computer crime.