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"You've got the touch!" So sang Stan Bush all the way back in 1986. Over 20 years later, it seems he may be right. Rumours are swirling around that Apple may be about to reveal a new touch screen computer, and it's got a lot of people excited. We already use touch screens for phones, games consoles and PDAs - are we about to start using them on our home computers? Ellie investigates below.
Speaking of phones, Adrien sings the praises of the iPhone as a gaming device, and issues a stern warning to Sony and Microsoft - evolve or die.
Plus: Dave examines the results of a new report that's not exactly dripping with praise for the UK's broadband infrastructure. And Vicki discusses the future of space tourism, and the first clown in space.
Hope you enjoy the issue. Why not check out our blog, or follow us on Twitter: @PromptLondon and @PromptBoston
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Is Apple in touch with what people really want?
Excitement over touch screens surged this week, with rumours that Apple is developing its own touchable computer. With Microsoft still proudly shouting about Surface, perhaps the time has come for us to drop our keyboards and mice and embrace this technology in our everyday lives?
For those of you unfamiliar with Microsoft Surface (see James's blog piece here), the computer is designed to be 'a unique gather place where multiple users can collaboratively interact with each other' either in the workplace, or in social environments. The technology uses cameras and image recognition to identify items and shapes, and can pick up on human touch and hand gestures.
Apple's potential touch screen computer seems to be getting the iLounge blog (a 'grapevine' site with a good record of scooping forthcoming Apple news) and techies in general in a tizz. After the runaway success of the iPhone, which introduced touch screens to 20 million users worldwide, Apple is apparently readying a touch screen computer with a 10.7" screen available in 3G and non 3G versions.
So it looks like the touch screen is well and truly here folks. Probably.
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Broadband Britain is far from future-proof
The UK's broadband networks are ill-prepared for the future and languish in the third-tier of connectivity standards, only ranking 25th in a table of 66 countries assessed in a new global study conducted on behalf of Cisco.
Countries including South Korea, Lithuania and Romania were placed in a top-tier of nations that are considered to have broadband networks that are 'ready for tomorrow'. Close western European neighbours such as France, Germany and Belgium were deemed 'comfortable for today'. The UK was listed as merely 'meeting the needs for today' alongside Estonia, Ukraine, Ireland and other countries, avoiding the ignominy of the lowest categorisation of 'below the needs of today'.
The study, which comprised 24 million speed tests around the world, therefore claims that Broadband Britain is unprepared for next-generation rich online applications, raising natural concerns for future business connectivity as well as residential internet services. Cisco's communication manager Joanne Hughes remained positive, saying: "We forecast the UK will improve because of things such as cable networks being upgraded and the Digital Britain report focusing on next generation access."
Nevertheless, such optimism doesn't cover up the fact that, while the South Korean government is promising nationwide speeds of 1Gbps by 2012, many UK web users are still struggling to maintain 1Mbps links. The pitiful situation will inevitably be exacerbated by an anticipated rapid adoption of bandwidth-intensive next-generation services that will build on today's usage of Skype, BBC iPlayer, YouTube and others.
The BBC reported researcher estimates that countries would need an average download speed of 11.25Mbps and an upload speed of 5Mbps in order to be comfortably placed for future applications.
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Space tourism: The final flight?
When we're young, many of us express a childlike ambition to become great things: doctors, teachers, firemen, and even astronauts. While most of the time our lives take us in different directions, NASA and other space organizations are giving these former astronaut wannabes the chance to fulfill their childhood dreams - for the right price of course.
This past Wednesday, Cirque du Soleil founder and fire-breathing stilt-walker Guy Laliberte became one of seven space tourist to take off into the stars. The fee for his cosmic holiday? Thirty-five million dollars, the most anyone has ever spent on a ticket to space. Laliberte, a billionaire who made his fortune as the mastermind behind the wildly popular and visually stunning Canadian circus Cirque du Soleil, donned a red nose with his space suit, aiming to be the "first clown in space." He said he hoped to use his trip to publicize the world's growing shortage of clean water.
While Laliberte may not be the first to spend millions on a roundtrip ticket to space, he might just be the last. With NASA announcing the retirement of its shuttle program in 2010, seats on space shuttles will be harder to come by, and those that are available are likely to be much more expensive. Still, those who grew up with the dream to reach the stars, and who also happen to be billionaires with tens of millions of dollars to spare, might just be willing cough up, which would help fund more space programs and make more seats available for tourists. Who knows, in the next 50 years as science makes greater strides in advancing space travel technology, space tourism might even be available to millionaires too.
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Apple has gaming giants worried
Last week at the Tokyo Game Show, one of the biggest events in the gaming world, an interesting issue was raised. How can Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft keep consumers hooked on game consoles, like the Wii or even the PSP, when Apple offers games on popular, everyday devices that double as cell phones and music players? When the iPhone and its apps were announced back in 2008, many knew, even then, that this signalled Apple's entry into the gaming industry. What people did not anticipate, however, was the impact it would have.
Apple advanced a new breed of business model for gaming. Where traditional gamers would fork over $40-60 for a game, the app store provides games for as little as $0.99, and many for no fee at all. Where traditional game developers spend years and millions in funding for a single console game, Apple effectively outsources its development, which results in more games created in shorter amounts of time and for free.
Back when 'Snake' was the only decent game for a cell phone, no one imagined that we would end up with a handset with the potential of the iPhone. Now that it is here, the gaming industry is going to have to shift its perennial obsession with hardware to software. Meanwhile, Sony has promised 3-D video games and a new motion sensing controller much like the Wii. And Microsoft is showing off Natal, a prototype motion system that allows players to use their bodies as controllers. So more of the same for the giants. How long until they realize they have to change?
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2nd October 2009
Is Apple in touch with what people really want?
Broadband Britain is far from future-proof
Space tourism: The final flight?
Apple has gaming giants worried
US
UK
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Source: DomainTools
In honor of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) new pact with the US government, I decided to dig up some stats on the domains that exist throughout the great big World Wide Web.
As you may have guessed, .com domains rank most popular, followed by .net, .info, .org, then .biz and .us domains.
111,853,986 = active domains currently registered
371,648,183 = domains formerly registered that have been deleted
82,447,376 = active .com domains currently registered
84,088 = registered .com domains activated on Wednesday of this week alone
1,649,050 = active .us domains registered
Additionally, there are currently 3,041,593,520 IP addresses registered across 240 countries. 1,480,042,365 of them are registered in the United States. The country with the second highest number of registered IPs is the United Kingdom with 226,760,591 followed closely by China with 213,294,197. Japan and Germany round out the top five with 175,751,227 and 108,666,567 respectively.
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 US
LA Weekly's Alexia Tsotsis is exchanging her Jimmy Choo's for Birkenstocks, becoming the new web site editor for website SFWeekly. SFWeekly's previous editor, Janine Kahn, will be leaving to become an editorial and content manager at Dogster, a social networking site for dogs.
ChannelWEB is kissing Andrew Hickey goodbye. Hickey, the senior editor for channel properties since July 2007, has left the publication.
The Wall Street Journal appointed Matthew Rose as its new deputy bureau chief for Washington, D.C. His new role starts in December 2009, when Jacob Schlesinger moves to a new role in Japan. The WSJ has also launched a new online video series, The News Hub.
CNBC's Power Lunch has a new anchor in Dennis Kneale, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He was an anchor for CNBC Reports, and before that, managing editor of Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.
FOXNews.com added Jeremy Kaplan as a science and technology editor. He was previously an executive editor at PCMag.com.
Bloomberg News' finance reporter James Sterngold will be joining its New York office, relocating from the San Francisco bureau.
Jessica Hodgson will be relocating back across the pond, leaving Dow Jones' San Fran office for London to cover EMEA, and mergers and acquisitions.
Byte and Switch has been integrated into Network Computing, a publication which relaunched itself as a web site in July 2009.
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 UK
Big changes this week at Techworld, the IDG technology site. Editor Maxwell Cooter and deputy editor Tom Jowitt have both left to become freelance writers. Max will still be contributing regularly to Techworld and can be reached at maxcooter@gmail.com. Mike Simons, editor of Computerworld UK, will now be in charge at Techworld.
The London Lite's features editor, Tracey Blake, is on maternity leave until September 2010. Anne Shooter will cover her leave and can be contacted at anne.shooter@thelondonlite.co.uk.
The BBC has announced major changes to its website that will embrace more social media tools and applications. The new-look site is to be launched by March. These changes will also affect breaking news pages, which break up to 500 news stories each day. Ten million people across the globe choose to log onto the BBC site each week.
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...I say "Cheers"
'Cheers' is another one of those words that doesn't always translate across the pond.
Here in the US of A, I would only say 'cheers' as a drinking toast over a celebratory meal. Of course, it's also the title of the sitcom, which I know spread across the Atlantic in the 1980s and 90s, and of course the name of the corresponding bar here in Boston.
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Once you leave the US, the meaning suddenly expands, with additional uses alongside the drinking element. Even on a plane crossing the Atlantic, people say 'cheers' as a gesture of thanks, as you're getting off at Heathrow it's used as a gesture of goodbye, or its just used as a general acknowledgement.
Here at Prompt we have the novelty of hearing our British colleagues and British clients say 'cheers' at the end of conference calls (which always used to make me wonder - did they possibly have a range of alcoholic drinks at hand?), and used as a gesture of appreciation at the end of emails, IMs and direct Tweets we share.
Although the definition has branched out in different directions, I like to think that at the root is the concept of sharing positive feelings - whether it's used to commemorate a special occasion, convey gratitude or articulate a fond farewell, the person on the receiving end is left feeling a little bit more cheerful.
patattah@prompt-communications.com or even potato@prompt-communications.com
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Remember George Davies? He was the fashion and retail genius who masterminded the Next chain of High Street stores in the 80s before launching George at Asda in the 90s and Per Una at Marks & Spencer in the 'noughties'.
Well now he's back with a new venture for a new decade. The premium women's fashion chain GIVe will open in 25 towns across the UK, starting this month. That little 'e' represents the importance of e-commerce to the new business, which will be driven to squeeze the most value possible from digital channels.
The whole move is classic George Davies - launching a large-scale, high-markup, mid-market brand at the height of a recession. Check out the website - perhaps after your next payday.
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We hope you find the Prompt Communications newsletter an interesting read. For any feedback on our newsletter, or to discuss how we can help you with your PR, marketing, social media/blogging initiatives, copywriting or surveys, please contact us using the details below. We are always delighted to hear from you.
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