Welcome

Welcome to the latest edition of the Prompt Communications newsletter. This week we bring news of a claim by Microsoft that the company's Touch technology will "blow the iPhone away" next year. What ever you say Microsoft, whatever you say…

Also, it seems that scientists think our brains may work in a remarkably similar way to Google's search algorithm when it comes to retrieving information. Interesting stuff, but how long before we can expect to see AdWords plastered all over our personal memories?

If you enjoy reading this newsletter, why not take a look at our blog.

Hazel Butters, CEO - Prompt Communications

Technology News

Windows Touch Technology will "blow iPhone away". In 2009. Maybe.
By Dave Wilby

A nice piece of investigative reporting over at PCPro uncovered a Microsoft engineer boasting about the touchscreen capabilities we might expect in the next version of the company’s OS, Windows 7. Writing on his developer blog, engineer Hilton Locke claims Microsoft’s Windows Touch Technology would leave consumers impressed with their touchy-feely new iPhones "blown away".

Locke gushed that the Tablet PCs remained one of the coolest projects remaining in mainstream computing before adding: "Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales." Windows 7 isn’t scheduled for release until deep into 2009. Microsoft’s first Tablet PC version of Windows launched back in 2002 but never attracted more than a niche following.

BBC launches Flash-based iPlayer
By Duncan Heaney

In July this year, the BBC launched its internet TV service, the iPlayer, giving users the ability to download and watch previously broadcast BBC programmes at any time. This launch of the iPlayer was met with a lot of criticism from Mac users and open source advocates because, as the Register reported at the time, the BBC limited it to Microsoft Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 or later.

It appears as if the BBC has taken those criticisms on board. The corporation has just released a Beta version of a new Flash-based iPlayer. The service allows users to stream any BBC commissioned programme that has been broadcast within the previous week. That means, unfortunately, that some programmes, such as American imports, are unavailable.

Having extensively tested this new iPlayer (purely for research purposes you understand), I can confirm that it does work reasonably well but still has some annoying bugs. Sometimes the iPlayer mysteriously stops working in the middle of a programme, and having tested it on multiple machines I still can’t get full screen mode to work properly.

Still, it’s free, it’s fast and once the kinks are worked out it will be an excellent way to catch up on the programmes you miss.

The BBC iPlayer can be found here.

US Media News

By Tarryn Morley

US

Barbara Krasnoff has been appointed features and review editor at Computerworld, a magazine for IT executives and professionals. She will cover new products, personal technology and small business. Krasnoff most recently served as the reviews editor for InformationWeek.

There have been several recent changes at CMP Information, a media company covering the technology industry. Edward Moltzen has been promoted from senior editor to managing editor of the test centre for CRN and VARbusiness. Jennifer Hagendorf Follet has been promoted to managing editor of technology, and Mario Morejon and Fahmida Rashid have both been promoted to senior technology editor. Stefanie Hoffman has been appointed associate editor.

Galen Gruman has been named executive editor at InfoWorld. He will cover SOA and related services technology. Gruman will continue to freelance for CIO magazine. He previously served as editor of CMP's M-Business magazine and has also worked for ThirdAge.com, Macworld, Computerworld, and IEEE Software.

Peter Eavis has left Fortune magazine and to join The Wall Street Journal in early January. In his new role, Eavis will contribute to the Heard on the Street column. He has previously worked for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com.

UK Media News

By Tarryn Morley

UK

Charlie Pretzlik has resigned from his role as assistant editor at the Financial Times to join JP Morgan Cazenove as vice-president in its investment banking division. Pretzlik was a potential candidate to replace James Harding as business editor when Harding was promoted to editor earlier this month. Pretzlik was at the FT for nine years and has also previously worked for the Daily Telegraph.

Mary Riddell has left The Observer to join the Daily Telegraph as an assistant editor and weekly columnist. Riddell has been a columnist for The Observer for 7 years. Prior to working at The Observer, she was an interviewer at the Daily Mail.

The International Herald Tribune will transform its print and online financial sections next month through an alliance with news agency Reuters. The daily business sections will be renamed Business with Reuters and will publish news from both organizations. Previously, IHT has had similar deals with Reuters’ rival Bloomberg.

The Telegraph Media Group is launching ST Men, a glossy magazine for affluent, fashion-conscious men. ST Men will be published twice a year.

Need some information? Use your head.
By Dave Wilby

“Do our brains work like Google?” asks The New Scientist. Psychologist Tom Griffiths and colleagues at the University of California wondered whether the way in which our brains retrieve words is similar to the way that search engine algorithms commonly rate websites by the number of other sites that link into them.

In tests of numerous word-retrieval algorithms, PageRank apparently matched the human model more closely than any other, suggesting human memory could be improved by employing tricks that search engines employ and vice versa. The theory goes that our memory for words can be modelled as a network in which each node represents a different word, with each linked to words that related to it. Hmmm. We still think the Human Brain Cloud (see below) is a more accurate model of our brains’ wordiness.

Games industry enjoys bumper year
By Duncan Heaney

The games industry has enjoyed a bumper year in 2007. BBC News reports that UK gamers have spent a staggering £1.53 billion on titles this year and two weeks have yet to be counted. This means that sales in the UK are 25% better than they were in 2006.

Experts attribute the strong sales to the adoption of new consoles, particularly the Nintendo Wii. In the third quarter of the year, more than 11 million consoles were sold, 33% more than last year.

High sales figures have also been attributed to the release of a number of high-profile and critically acclaimed titles, such as Super Mario Galaxy, Halo 3 and Bioshock. In just one week in December, more than £87.9 million worth of games were sold, setting a new record.

Paul Jackson, director general of Elspa, believes that this signifies that video gaming has at last become mass-market. “Video gaming is enjoyed by everyone, young and old, male or female.”

The BBC article also states that console games now account for 79% of all software sales.

Website of the Week

By Dave Wilby

Human Brain Cloud

Superficially, this is a massively multiplayer word association game that will waste an inordinate amount of your time if you let it. But delve a little deeper and the resulting Flash animations of the instant associations of a global collective consciousness are truly fascinating. The organic flow of words is wonderfully complemented by some beautifully fluid chart animations that quickly produce constellations of wordy madness. Take a break from staring at a screen of words that are supposedly laid out in a logical order and try and see language from a different perspective for a few minutes.

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 technology PR, marketing, social media/blogging initiatives, copywriting or surveys, please contact us using the details below. We are always delighted to hear from you.