Vodafone Looks forward to 3G iPhone Version

LONDON (Reuters)—Vodafone Group Plc said on Thursday it was concerned that the current model of iPhone mobile phones—Apple Inc's latest "killer" gadget—did not operate on fast 3G networks.

Amid speculation that Apple, the innovative U.S. consumer electronics group, is close to handing a deal to Vodafone's rivals to bring iPhones to European shores, the mobile phone giant said only any deal needed to make sense for shareholders. "It's clearly a good, software-driven device, but we're concerned about wideband area coverage so that 3G (third-generation) or HSDPA (upgraded 3G) connectivity with the iPhone is something that we look forward to.

"Every product, every alterative, every choice here has a price and we just have to be conscious of what it is that we're doing for our customers and our shareholders," Sarin told a conference call after the company posted strong quarterly numbers. Analysts expected Vodafone to be in prime position to secure an exclusive, pan-European deal to sell iPhones, which have flown off the shelves in the United States, but warned that Apple was a tough negotiator and liked to dictate terms.

Apple, whose iPhones operate over slower 2.5 generation networks in the United States, is not expected to bring out a 3G version until March 2008, analysts say. And Vodafone has invested heavily in its 3G network and services.

iPhones, which combine Apple's hugely-popular iPod digital music player, a video player and Web browser into a sleek, touch screen device, went on sale in the U.S. in June to the delight of die-hard Apple fans.

Sarin said virtually every mobile company was having a conversation with Apple, but that he could not comment further on any potential decision or announcement.

CinemaNow updates Vista support

CinemaNow, fine purveyor of downloadable film and TV content, has recently updated its Media Manager support for Vista, allowing you to use its Burn-to-DVD service, and enabling your Xbox 360 to act as a bridge from your PC to your TV -- adding an interesting new option to the media center sphere.

So starting right now, you can download and watch your favorite movies and television shows without ever having to let go of the Xbox controller, which could be detrimental to your relationships, but really good for catching up on any episodes of 24 you might have missed.

Cirque du Soleil's inner workings

As part of Road Trip 2007 through the Southwest, CNET News.com reporter Daniel Terdiman is getting a behind-the-scenes look at the technical underpinnings of Cirque du Soleil's Ka, which plays at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The Ka stage has seven different pieces, each of which can move independently. The effect is wonderful, particularly when the largest piece of the stage--the "Sand Cliff Deck," a 25x50x6 foot "performance space" that weighs 80,000 pounds--rotates to be fully perpendicular to the floor and has many performers cavorting around on it. Other parts of the stage rise and lower quickly, as this image--the first of two demonstrating the motion of a piece of stage--shows.

The New York Times had printed reviews ahead of the novel's publication on 21 July

JK Rowling said fans wanted to finish the saga "in their own time"JK Rowling has hit out at US newspapers that have published plot details from the final Harry Potter book. The author said she was "staggered" that papers including The New York Times had printed reviews ahead of the novel's publication on 21 July.

The author said the information was in "complete disregard of the wishes of literally millions of readers". UK publishers Bloomsbury said spoilers remained "unauthenticated". Some books have been sent out early in the US. The book's US publisher Scholastic has sued online retailer DeepDiscount.com for breaking the strict embargo by dispatching a number of copies.

The book's contents have been the subject of intense speculation. The novel has also appeared on auction site eBay, while pictures of what appeared to be pages from the new book have appeared on the internet.

Bloomsbury said it was "dismayed" to learn about the early sales. But internet spoilers had not come from the few copies sold ahead of the official publication, it insisted. The strict embargo was being "enforced unflinchingly and without exception" by publishers in 93 countries, the company added.

Rowling said the US newspaper reviews would particularly affect children "who wanted to reach Harry's final destination by themselves, in their own time". "I am incredibly grateful to all those newspapers, booksellers and others who have chosen not to attempt to spoil Harry's last adventure for fans," she added. We tried very, very hard to give away the absolute bare minimum of the plot Rick LymanNew York TimesRowling's statement follows an earlier message on her website, in which she said: "Let's all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press.

"I'd like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Harry Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. "In a very short time you will know everything!" The New York Times said its copy was bought at a store in the city on Wednesday.

Some fans are already queuing outside a central London bookshopThe paper's books and theatre editor Rick Lyman said: "It's our policy that once a book has been offered up for sale, it's fair game to be reviewed. "It's not our business to help book publishers market their books. We tried very, very hard to give away the absolute bare minimum of the plot."

On Wednesday, the Baltimore Sun printed a review of the book, saying it had obtained a copy from a relative of one of its reporters who had received it prematurely. A person selling a copy on eBay said: "I don't work for a bookstore and I don't have a magic wand. An online store shipped a copy early."

Meanwhile, UK supermarket Asda has announced it will sell the book for £5 - just over a quarter of the recommended retail price. Bloomsbury had originally cancelled Asda's order, with the supermarket calling the price "potty" and accusing the retailer of "blatant profiteering".

Nokia starts global positioning service

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia launched a service on Thursday which it said would cut the time a GPS-enabled cellphone takes to pinpoint its whereabouts, opening new opportunities for location-based online services.

Nokia hopes the service, available for users of its flagship N95 phones, will cut the startup time to one minute, from up to three minutes currently. The slowness has so far hampered takeup of cellphone navigation. "It will be reliably under one minute in most countries," Ralph Eric Kunz, head of Nokia's navigation and mapping operations told Reuters in an interview.
Handset makers see GPS-based navigation as one of the next big value-adding offerings and even at this early stage.

Analysis firm Berg Insight has forecast annual shipments of handset-based personal navigation devices in Europe and the United States to reach 12 million units by 2009, compared with 1 million in 2005. While most assisted-GPS technologies use mobile carriers cellsites to find locations faster, Nokia's new service bypasses operator networks, using data from SIM card and new software which helps the phone to catch satellite signals.

GPS chips use satellites orbiting the earth to determine the exact position of the user. They are found in car navigation systems, which have surged in popularity in recent years, and the technology is now making the jump to mobile phones. Nokia's N95, with a 700-euro price tag, is not within reach of the wider market, but the Finnish firm aims to bring GPS chips to a wide array of its phones. All Nokia's GPS phones will have the new service, Kunz said.

Nokia hopes the service will boost prices of its phones in the longer term, and increase the appeal of mobile search services.