A more intuitive user interface will include the ability to swipe-control applications.

As well as a wholly redesigned app gallery for easier sharing of content the new OS will include faster response times that will be enhanced by HSPA 21Mbps or Wi-Fi connectivity.

New Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 to come with Face Unlock

Just like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus the Galaxy Tab 2 will feature Face Unlock, which uses facial recognition to unlock the tablet.

The Tab 2 will come with a Readers Hub that will connect users to over 2.3m e-books, 3,500 magazines and over 2,000 newspapers.

Samsung will also launch a new Video Hub which will offer over 1,000 film titles to rent or buy.

The tablet will also come with a new content sharing service called AllShare Play, which allows users to play or live-stream their multimedia content on tablet from PCs and other Samsung smart devices.

The new tablet will also come with iumproved voice calling capability, turning it into a second smartphone as well as conduct Google+ hangouts.

The court is expected to make a ruling within a few months.

While Samsung and Apple have been involved with several smartphone patents across the globe, this case could be seen as an attack on Android 4.0.

Each year, Google collaborates with a mobile manufacturer to create a smartphone piloting the latest version of Android. These devices have a stock version of the operating system installed without any skins or modifications overlaying it.

In 2011, Google worked with Samsung to make the Galaxy Nexus. In this case, many of the patents refer to software, meaning Google may have to remove potentially infringing functionalities from the OS if the injunction is granted.

Apple currently has another lawsuit against Samsung in the same federal district, requesting a preliminary injunction based on its intellectual property.

At the start of the month, a German court rejected the ban of the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy 10.1N, though that case revolved around a touchscreen patent.

Sony’s next CEO Kazuo Hirai has suggested the company is looking into using the PlayStation Vita’s operating system for other mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

The Verge reports that Hirai told reporters in Japan that the Vita OS could be seen as a mobile platform and not just one for gaming.

SCE’s senior vice-president Yoshio Matsumoto reportedly said it would be possible to expand the OS onto smartphones and tablets while catering for gaming needs. However, he emphasised that Sony was not applying it to other devices right now but noted it was designed to be expandable.

The PlayStation Vita will be released on 22 February.

Apple discontinues white MacBook

Apple has stopped offering its white MacBook range to educational institutes, meaning the product has officially been discontinued.

MacRumors reports that Apple has told resellers it has ended the distribution channel for the product, classifying it as “End of Life.”

Last year, Apple stopped selling the white MacBook to consumers, offering the MacBook Pro range and the MacBook Air range for its laptop offerings.

Microsoft India store hacked, passwords leaked

The Microsoft India online store, owned and operated by Quasar Media and not Microsoft, has been hacked and a list of user names and passwords for accounts has been released.

WPSauce reports that a Chinese hacker group called EvilShadow team has taken credit for the attack. The site reportedly kept passwords stored in plain text, helping the hackers gain easy access to them.

Quasar Media was “appointed by Microsoft to own, maintain and operate” the online store, according to its terms of use.

The store now carries a statement, saying it is unavailable. It says Microsoft is working to restore access to it as quickly as possible and it apologises for any inconvenience.

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Quoting people familiar with the new line up the report described the new MacBook Pro line-up as akin to MacBook Air ultrabooks.

The move is likely to distance Apple once again from the competition, which are scrambling to bring out ultrabook computers.

With the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors and ThunderBolt technology, the current generation MacBook Air also features Intel HD Graphics 3000 and offers up to 4GB of faster 1,333 MHz memory. Intel predicts that as much as 20pc of all notebook sales this year will be ultrabook-style machines.

Recent reports suggested Apple was developing a new ultra-thin 15-inch notebook computer. Could this be the shape of the next generation of MacBook Pro machines?

While it would be the best part of a year before I would get to spend significant time with the XOOM, it was in my mind the only contender that Apple's iPad franchise had at that point.

The differences, however, between the first generation XOOM and the new XOOM 2 are incredibly stark.

The XOOM was a robust, sturdy tablet computer that really brought Android to life on the tablet form factor. The XOOM 2 has Android roaring with life - it feels complete, tangible and solid.

John Kennedy checks out Motorola’s latest tablet computer the XOOM 2 

But the differences: first of all the XOOM 2 is much lighter than its predecessor and this time round Motorola has dispensed with the cold steel backing and has gone for a much smoother, lighter more elegant material.

The computer has an octagonal shape with subtle curves at each corner and it just looks more discrete and slick than its predecessor.

Also in terms of charging and synching the device, Motorola has thankfully begun using a mini-USB port that sits right beside the HDMI port.

The differences don't stop there. The 10.1-inch display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and a special splash resistant coating.

Colours seem brighter, crisper and sharper on the XOOM 2 than on its predecessor.

The need for speed

A real standout difference is of course the speed. The device comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and has 1GB of RAM.

I have to say I was very impressed with the XOOM 2's 5-megapixel camera which took really vivid photos that displayed beautifully on the 10.1 screen. Around the front there's a 1.3-megapixel camera which is perfect for video conferencing via Skype or doing Google Hangouts.

The Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet computer is capable of up to 10 hours of battery life. I actually found it to be very battery efficient and rarely had to charge it up. Very impressive.

The only niggle, and this is a minor niggle, was the 'on' button. On the first generation XOOM the 'on' button was at the back and it took a bit of fumbling to find it. If you're used to Apple's iPad there's one button to activate the screen and it's right there at the front, but in these litigious days I'd imagine every manufacturer has to be different. So with the XOOM 2 what Motorola has done is shift the 'on' button to the right hand side. While it still takes a bit of fumbling to find the tiny button at least Motorola has redeemed itself in my eyes by grouping the volume controls right next to the 'on' button. Like I said, a minor niggle.

The speed of the XOOM 2's 1.2GHz is very obvious, leading to a very elegant computing experience.

Another factor worth mention is the perceived gap between apps choices for Android devices and iOS devices is closing ... quite rapidly in fact. The Android Market now delivers many of the mainstream apps you would come to expect such as Netflix, Dropbox, Evernote, etc.

Mind you I'm still waiting for Instagram to arrive on Android and would love to see how it would manifest on a device like the XOOM 2.

All in all, the XOOM 2 is a great statement of intent by Motorola. It will not disappoint.

It's available in the UK and Ireland at Carphone Warehouse, Currys and PC World for around €474 (stg£396).

Users may be able to operate the system using a smartphone or a tablet, though it’s uncertain whether the device would need to run the Android operating system.

The description of the system resembles offerings from Sonos, which lets people use their mobile devices to control a multi-room music system wirelessly. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal’s sources say Google will make the service more affordable than Sonos’ system.

The system would mark the first time Google has directly overseen manufacturing of a piece of hardware. It has partnered with other mobile device manufacturers with its Nexus range of smartphones as pilot devices for the newest updates of Android.

In November, Google launched its Google Music store for the cloud, with 13m tracks from major labels EMI, Sony and Universal, and 1,000 independent labels. It syncs the user’s record collection across all Android devices and added a new music store in Android Market. It’s currently only available in the US.

The documents give numerous insights into Jobs, who died in October. Many left favourable comments to his “character, reputation, associates and loyalty” and recommended him for the position. The Associated Press reports that Jobs did serve on the council after the investigation.

The documents also give an account of some individuals who claimed Jobs would “twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals.” Another claimed he was “a deceptive individual who is not completely forthright and honest.”

However, many of those who had fallen out with Jobs recommended him for the role. One person said that while he “did not consider Mr Jobs to be a friend” he believed Jobs “possessed the qualities to assume a high-level political position” as he believed “honesty and integrity are not prerequisites to assume such a position.”

There were also numerous references to Jobs' previous drug use, including LSD and marijuana. One account said this happened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, “having come from that generation.”

One part of the documents detailed how a special agent from the FBI tried to arrange an interview with Jobs, who was the president of NeXT at that stage. However, Jobs’ secretary told him he was not available to speak for even an hour for three weeks.

Jobs was eventually interviewed, saying he had experimented with LSD and marijuana between 1970 and 1974. He also confirmed “he was not a member of the Communist party and did not belong to any organisations that espoused the overthrow of the government.”

The company said it was working with its retailers to make the transition as smooth as possible and will honour all product warranties and provide technical support for the items. It hopes to make annual savings of more than US$100m in the process.

Last month, Kodak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it would continue to operate as normal during this filing in a bid to restructure the company.

The 131-year-old company once sold 90pc of film across the globe, but struggled as the popularity of digital photography arose.

It hopes to make money by selling off some of its IP, resolving legacy liabilities and focusing on more valuable business lines. It aims to complete the filing by 2013 to become a leaner digital imaging and material science company.

Since 2003, it has closed 13 manufacturing plants, 130 processing labs and cut 47,000 jobs.

Anotherfriend.com gets over 12.8 million page impressions and 290,000 unique visitors each month.

"We have known the team at MaybeFriends for many years and feel we share a like-minded approach in providing a quality customer experience with a broad community reach for consumers looking for a premium site experience," said Barry.

Maybefriends.com came on to the online business dating scene in 2004. Saongroup purchased the site back in 2008.

Cashing in on online dating

With more and more people flocking to online dating sites these days, online dating would appear to be big business. The Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI) recently published a survey in its Consumer Choice magazine about internet dating and what people can expect to pay when joining such sites. While there is scope on some of these sites to scan for love interests for free, using more limited search mechanisms, the CAI found that dating websites in Ireland charge subscribers between €12 and €49.50 a month.

There are other sites such as Plentyoffish.com that offer a free service, instead using advertising to fund themselves.

Globally, in the migration to the mobile app space for online dating, Plentyoffish.com is emerging as a fast-moving player. Just today, Markus Frind, founder and CEO of the site, said that Plentyoffish.com surpassed 300m monthly visits to its free iPhone and Android apps in January 2012.

"With an increasingly tech-savvy public, the online dating world needs to step up to accommodate the advancement of the industry," said Frind. The site receives over 7bn page views per month. Plentyoffish.com is available in seven language and apparently has over 39.5m registered users around the world.

The report also suggests that the iPad 3 will offer a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution Retina Display, a “much faster chip” and an improved graphics processing unit.

Rumours have been circulating about the next iPad for some time now, with earlier reports suggesting it will offer a quad core processor, a high-resolution screen and LTE connectivity.

Earlier today, 9to5 Mac claimed it found images of the back case of the iPad 3 from China, which also added to the high-resolution screen rumours.

However, The Verge reports that, according to “people familiar with the product,” while the next iPad will have a faster A6 CPU, it won’t be a quad-core chip.

Apple is notoriously secretive about its upcoming products and normally sends out a press invite to its product launch events close to the date that they’re unveiled.

Hasbro and Activision Publishing Inc have joined forces to bring the classic seek-and-find naval game to video gamers, offering players strategic naval command and first-person action gameplay.

"We're geared up for an outrageous sea and land conflict with the all new BATTLESHIP video game," said David Oxford, Activision Publishing. 

"Inspired by the film's exciting action and stunning backdrop, the game is next-gen naval warfare that thrusts players into the middle of humanity's last stand against an unfamiliar menace."

BATTLESHIP follows elite demolitions specialist Cole Mathis as he clashes with an aquatic-based extraterrestrial peril at a Hawaiian archipelago. Trapped in a communications dead zone, Mathis must command the U.S. Navy fleet in a "siege on the sea," while simultaneously rallying the troops on land for a terrifying "war on the shore."

The BATTLESHIP video game features carriers, frigates, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and the legendary USS Missouri Battleship in a battle to beat the enemy.

Because children are now migrating to the internet at an earlier age, be it to carry out school projects and use educational resources, or to social network, the issue of internet security has come to the fore of late, with words like cyber crime, cyber bullying and identity theft terms that parents are increasingly hearing about.

Just today, an online survey carried out by Trend Micro for Safer Internet Day revealed that 44pc of kids have friends on Facebook who they have never met in real life. Another worrying statistic from the study was that half of children, who responded to the survey, use the internet mostly on their own, without supervision. They also admit to not telling the truth about bad online experiences they've had.

Sharing information online

In Ireland, Microsoft Ireland employees visited 161 primary schools today and met with 16,800 students to talk to them about online safety.

This afternoon, Dr Kevin Marshall, head of Education at Microsoft Ireland, spoke about how the advent of social media has created a world of sophisticated web users but that children and young people continue to need guidance on what and how personal information can be safely shared online.  

As a result, Microsoft has created some tips and guidelines for kids and parents alike to think about and potentially put into practice when using the web

10 hints and tips to stay safe, secure and private when online

1. Defend your computer
Install legitimate antivirus and antispyware software. Never turn off your firewall. Protect your wireless router with a password. Think before you open email attachments or links.

2. Protect sensitive personal information
Before you enter sensitive data, look for signs that a webpage is secure.

3. Use social networks more safely
Check out the settings on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to manage your security settings. Don't post anything you wouldn't want to see on a billboard, says Microsoft, which has additional advice on social networking.

4. Take charge of your online reputation
Discover what is on the internet about you and periodically re-evaluate what you find - Google yourself, for instance! Consider using separate email addresses for personal and professional matters and use the professional address for sites such as LinkedIn.

5. Create strong passwords
Make your passwords stronger by creating long phrases or sentences that mix capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Use different passwords and keep them confidential.

6. Protect your data on the move
When using the internet on public computers, remember that web browsers can keep a record of your passwords and every page you visit. Remember to erase your tracks on web browsers.

7. Take extra steps to keep kids safer online
Make online safety a family effort, a mix of guidance and monitoring.

8. Help stop cyber bullying
While blocking individuals is one form of defence, parents should also consider discussing incidents of bullying with their child's school. Microsoft says cyber bullying can also be reported to its abuse reporting service.

9. Use location settings carefully
Consider whether or not to allow geo-tagging or to apply location settings selectively so only friends can see. If you have children, Microsoft's advice is to disable the location setting completely.

10. Email scams
Learn more about identifying and protecting yourself from phishing scams. Test your spam-spotting skills on ilookbothways.com.

Parents could also consider restricting access to online content, based on a child's age. Xbox Parental Controls for instance, help parents restrict their child's ability to play inappropriate content, such as that from games or DVDs not suitable for kids.

It includes a 28mm wide-angle lens with a 4.6x optical zoom and a 12.1-megapixel sensor. It features intelligent zoom technology which extends the zoom ratio by 2x, maintaining the image quality in digital zoom.

The camera can shoot full HD video and is equipped with the Venus Engine, which can allow the camera to record full HD footage and high-resolution consecutive shots at 3.7fps.

The LUMIX DMC-FT4 includes GPS, which shows the name of the location and landmark to give users details of the area in which they’re shooting. It covers 203 countries and 1m landmarks, according to Panasonic.

Photos and videos tagged with location names are automatically sorted in the folder alphabetically for quick access. It can also detect the local time of the region.

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FT4 will be available in March, costing €419.99.

The ‘rugged’ PowerShot D20 has been designed to be waterproof to depths of 10m, shockproof from drops of up to 1.5m and to withstand temperatures down to -10C. Its active display technology lets users control some of the camera’s functions by tapping the camera body, making it easier to use when wearing gloves.

It’s equipped with a 12.1-megapixel high-sensitivity CMOS sensor with a DIGIC 4 image processor. It includes a 28mm wide-angle lens with 5x optical zoom. It has a 3-inch, 460,000 dot LCD screen with 4:3 aspect ratio.

It also features the Intelligent IS, which analyses a scene and selects the optimum settings for the optical Image Stabiliser from seven different modes.

The Powershot D20 has an underwater macro mode for taking pictures under the sea, with enhanced underwater white balance accuracy which aims to capture natural colours.

It can shoot Full HD 1080p footage and can be connected to a TV using its HDMI connection.

The Canon PowerShot D20 is available from May costing €399.

Canon PowerShot SX260 HS and PowerShot SX240 HS

The PowerShot SX260 HS and PowerShot SX240 HS both feature a 25mm wide-angle 20x optical zoom lens with a 4-stop optical Image Stabiliser. This can be boosted further to a 39x digital zoom with their DIGIC 5 processors.

They both include a 12.1-megapixel CMOS sensor and the ability to shoot Full HD movies. They also have Intelligent IS, analysing scenes and selecting the optimum settings from seven different modes.

The difference between the two cameras is that the PowerShot SX260 HS includes built-in GPS, which tags each picture with the local time and location in which it was taken. The location is logged in the camera at regular intervals and features more than 48 hours of tracking in one charge. Journeys can be viewed on Google Maps or shared with others through apps such as Google Earth.

The Canon PowerShot SX240 HS, priced at €349, and the Canon PowerShot SX260 HS, priced at €379, are both available from March.

Canon PowerShot A range

Canon also unveiled six new cameras under its PowerShot A range – the PowerShot A810, the PowerShot A1300, the PowerShot A2300, the PowerShot A2400 IS, the PowerShot A3400 IS and the PowerShot A400 IS.

All six cameras feature 16-megapixel sensors and the ability to record 720p HD movies. Almost all of them have a 28mm wide-angle lens with a 5x optical zoom, apart from the PowerShot A400 IS which boosts this up to an 8x optical zoom.

The PowerShot A2400 IS, PowerShot A3400 IS and the PowerShot A400 IS all feature an optical image stabiliser with Intelligent IS technology, while the other three cameras feature a digital image stabiliser.

They also all include smart auto mode, which detects 32 different scenes.

All six cameras will be released from February to April, priced from €99 to €189.

It includes Nikon’s EXPEED 3 image processing engine and 16-bit image processing.

Its advanced scene recognition system incorporates a 91,000-pixel RGB sensor which can detect human faces even when only using the optical viewfinder. It can also recognise a scene’s colour and brightness more accurately.

The camera has Nikon’s Multi-CAM 3500FX AF system with selectable and configurable 9-point, 21-point and 51-point coverage settings. This has improved the low-light acquisition sensitivity abilities of the autofocus sensor module and algorithms down to -2 EV.

Its start-up time is 0.12 seconds and release time lag on is about 0.042 seconds.

It can film Full HD footage which can be recorded at frame rates of 30p, 25p and 24p. At 720p resolution, it can shoot at a frame rate of 60p, 50p and 25p. Full HD recording is also possible in both FX and DX-based formats.

The camera has an external stereo microphone input and an audio out for external headphones. It also has a line input setting for PCM linear recorders. It also offers the ability to output the uncompressed live view to external monitors and recorders at the designated image size and frame rate.

It offers a 3.2-inch, 921k dot wide-viewing-angle LCD monitor which allows images to be magnified up to 46x during playback.

The D800 will be available in the US in March for US$3,000. Currently, no European release date has been revealed.

Early life

Because his father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, it meant that Dickens, the second of eight children, had a few years of private education at William Giles's School in Chatham. However, financial difficulties meant that the family moved from Kent to Camden Town, London, in 1822. Dickens' father - John Dickens - apparently lived way beyond his means and was subsequently imprisoned in the Marshalsea debtor's prison in Southwark, London in 1824. The rest of the Dickens family soon joined him in the prison, apart from Charles, who was sent to board with a family friend, Elizabeth Roylance, in Camden Town. Dickens was 12 at the time. He would later base the character 'Mrs Pipchin' on Elizabeth Roylance.

_{Today's Google Doodle}

Dickens was later forced to leave school to pay for his board and help his family out. He started working 10-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, now the setting for Charring Cross railway station. Apparently he earned six shillings a week in difficult conditions, with the job supposedly influencing his later writings about poverty and the social and economic conditions in the England of his time.

Education and early jobs

Dickens subsequently attended Wellington House Academy in North London. Between 1827 and 1828 he worked as a junior clerk in a law office in London. He then departed to try his hand at freelance reporting. He spent four years working as a legal reporter.

In 1833 his first story, A Dinner at Poplar Walk was published in the London periodical, Monthly Magazine. In 1836 Dickens started working as an editor at Bentley's Miscellany. Simultaneously, he was churning out novels, such as Oliver Twist (1837-39), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39) and The Old Curiosity Shop.

In 1836 Dickens married Catherine Hogwarth. They set up home in Bloomsbury and went on to have 10 children. The duo separated in 1858.

Dickens penned Bleak House between 1852 and 1853, living at Tavistock House. He also wrote Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1857) while living there.

A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859 and Great Expectations was published in 1861.

Dickens' literary output is too vast to chronicle here, but here's a link to an online resource, The Literature Network, that details his works.

So what's the deal? Up to now, Facebook has been deleting photos that mums have been posting of themselves nursing their children. Not only that, but mums have had their accounts suspended or deleted for breaching Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities because Facebook has deemed such images to contain "nudity, pornography or graphic sexual content".

Certain segments of society across the world have been riled by Facebook's stance on breastfeeding, with many arguing that if it is acceptable to nurse in public, why is it not acceptable to show nursing photos in the virtual world, ie, via Facebook, with their friends and loved ones?

_{Friends of Breastfeeding - Ireland website}

Nurse-ins

Today, 6 February 2012, has been chosen as the day for people to hold 'nurse-ins' outside Facebook offices in certain cities. In Ireland, for instance, Friends of Breastfeeding has had an appeal on its website for people who wish to protest outside Facebook's

South Australia's Minister for the Status of Women, Gail Gago, has also voiced her support for nursing mums who wish to share images of themselves breastfeeding with their social circle on Facebook. She indicated today that she will be penning a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, appealing that the ban on breastfeeding photos be overturned in cases where women upload their own photos of themselves nursing their kids.

Sony will change the name of the PlayStation Network to “Sony Entertainment Network” from 7 February.

This is in order to rebrand the service as “a global comprehensive network platform of services” which offers games, movies and music through one account. It will enable the use of Sony’s Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited and PlayMemories Online, which is currently called Personal Space.

Users will be asked to agree to a new set of terms of service which will allow them to use the online service under its new name.

Under the new terms, parents of minors with accounts must consent to the sharing of the minor’s data if they use certain communications features across the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, which will be released on 22 February.

The terms also cover location-based services offered through the PlayStation Vita and information on pre-ordering content.

Smartphone shipments surpass PC shipments for the first time

New research from Canalys reveals that during 2011, total annual global shipments of smartphones exceed those of PCs for the first time.

Vendors shipped 158.5m smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 57pc from the previous quarter. In total, 487.7m units were shipped in 2011, up 63pc since 2010.

By comparison, the global client PC market grew 15pc in 2011, shipping 414.6m units. Tablets accounted for 15pc of all PC shipments in 2011.

However, Canalys predicts that the smartphone market’s growth will slow in 2012 as vendors exercise greater cost control and discipline, instead focusing more on profitability.

Vimeo launches app for Windows Phone

Video hosting website Vimeo has released an official app for the Windows Phone platform.

Pocket Now reports that the app allows users to upload, manage and watch videos through their Windows Phone. It also allows users to watch videos from their Vimeo inbox and Watch Later queue.

Videos can be uploaded in HD and uploads can be paused and resumed. Users can also access statistics on how many times the video was played, how many times it was liked and the comments that other users posted.

The official Vimeo app is available now on the Windows Phone Marketplace for free.

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The second image consists of three black and white figures running past a blue Google logo on what appears to be a tiled wall.

The final image is the only one in full colour. It features a cinema screen with a couple standing in front of a red Google logo.

Users can click on arrows on the side of the images to scroll through the slideshow.

Truffaut was born 6 February 1932 in Paris, France, and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France at the age 52 on 21 October 1984 after developing a brain tumour.

Truffaut used improvisation, location filming and small budgets when it came to making his films. His most well-known film, Jules et Jim, was released in 1961 and has since become a classic of French cinema.

He won an Oscar in 1973 for La nuit americaine, in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Google Doodles are stylised Google logos the search giant places on its homepage to mark anniversaries or particular events.

^{The images featured in the Google Doodle slideshow marking what would have been the 80th birthday of filmmaker François Truffaut}

The ruling has resulted in Apple's European sales subsidiary in Cork taking down older iPhone models and 3G-based iPads from Apple's German online store. Only the latest iPhone 4S and Wi-Fi only iPads remain on sale on the e-commerce store.

However, later today it emerged that Apple had the injunction temporarily suspended and is now working to restore the products on its German e-commerce store.

Apple plans to appeal the ruling on the basis that Motorola Mobility, which is now owned by Google, refuses to license the patent on what it calls "reasonable terms". Apple points out that Motorola declared the patent in question an "industry standard" patent several years ago.

A separate case could also see iPhone users lose their iCloud push email service.

Windows Phone 8 will support multicore processors, new screen resolutions and removable microSD card storage. Previous devices had to rely on internal memory and single-core processors.

It will support NFC, which will see Microsoft begin to embrace contactless payments through mobile phones. Mobile payments on Windows Phone 8 can be carrier branded and controlled by a secure element on the SIM card or through the phone’s hardware. Along with mobile payments, Windows Phone 8’s NFC capabilities will support tap-to-share data transfers between desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Windows Phone 8 will use many of the same components as Windows 8, letting developers “reuse ... most of their code” when porting an app from the desktop to the smartphone.

The Xbox app on Windows Phones will have a partner client on Windows 8 and the Skydrive app will offer seamless sharing between devices through the cloud without needing to sync the PC.

The new version of the mobile OS will allow for more powerful apps and an easier means of porting code from apps developed for iOS or Android. There will be support for app-to-app communication.

The OS will include ‘DataSmart,’ a feature which aims to reduce and help track data usage. It will give details on how much data is used and will prioritise Wi-Fi connections, locating nearby hotspots. There will also be native BitLocker encryption, aimed at enterprise users.

Windows Phone 8 is expected to arrive towards the end of the year.

Samsung came second, shipping a record 97.6m mobile devices within the quarter. It also shipped 300m units within the full year. The IDC said this was due to Samsung's high-end devices, - such as the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus – its mid-range models and its Windows Phone smartphones.

Apple reached third in global smartphone shipments, rising from fifth place in the last quarter, thanks to record-breaking shipments of its new device, the iPhone 4S.

In fourth place was LG, whose total volumes declined for the third consecutive quarter, and in fifth was Chinese mobile vendor ZTE.

Global market

The global mobile phone market grew 6.1pc year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2011. While this was higher than the IDC’s forecast of 4.4pc, it was weaker than the 9.3pc growth seen in the third quarter of 2011.

"The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

"The introduction of high-growth products such as the iPhone 4S, which shipped in the fourth quarter, bolstered smartphone growth. Yet overall market growth fell to its lowest point since 3Q09 when the global economic recession was in full bloom,” he said.

The feature phone market declined much faster than the IDC predicted, meaning it’s at its lowest point in more than two years.

Some 427.4m mobile phones were shipped in the last quarter of 2011, compared to 402.8m in the same quarter in the previous year. However, feature phones still make up of the majority of all mobile phone shipments in four out of five of the leading markets.

In Western Europe, the market was affected by lower demand, which the IDC attributes to the economic climate. While it says that Apple and Samsung had “excellent performances” in the region, Nokia experienced a difficult quarter due to its transition to Windows Phones.

Yesterday, a court in Dusseldorf upheld the ban of the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet in the Munich Regional Court case is centred on the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, an amended version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 designed to get around the ban. A lower Dusseldorf court is due to make a ruling over the Galaxy Tab 10.1N in a separate case which Apple filed.

It’s the latest move in Apple and Samsung’s ongoing legal disputes over smartphone and tablet patents, which have spanned across the globe in regions such as the US, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The European Commission recently launched an investigation into whether Samsung abused commonly available patents on smartphones to attack Apple in these disputes. It alleges that Samsung contravened a commitment it gave to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and used standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European device markets.

However, the company saw potential in using the device for other features, such as for research purposes and new interfaces. It’s now making the hardware available to consumers with Windows PCs and may even integrate the sensors into laptops.

Microsoft said than more than 300 companies from more than 25 countries, such as United Health Group, American Express, Mattel, Telefonica and Toyota, had joined the Kinect for Windows early adoption programme to use the technology to improve their internal operations and build new customer experiences.

According to Microsoft, version one of its SDK and runtime now has support for up to four Kinect sensors plugged into one PC. It also has Near Mode for the hardware, reducing the distance the subject has to be away from the sensor to 40cm.

Skeletal tracking has been improved and developers can now control which user is being tracked by the sensor. There is also an improved “far-talk” acoustic model which increases speech-recognition accuracy.

There is now a commercial-ready installer, making it easier to install the Kinect for Windows runtime and driver components. Microsoft said it will release updates to the SDK and runtime two to three times per year.

The price of the Kinect hardware will be €249, with plans to reduce the price specifically for educational institutes later in the year. The Kinect for Windows hardware has been shipped to Ireland, Spain, the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico and New Zealand.

For many of us at the time, the mighty Nokia's decision to embrace a Microsoft operating system was unthinkable and felt like a defeat for the troubled mobile maker.

First you have to realise, however, that Nokia is still the largest mobile maker in the world and while the smartphone market is going from strength to strength and is dominated by Apple's iOS and Google's Android, it is a mobile battle space that never stops moving.

My experiences of Nokia devices began like most people back in the 1990s and my favourite was the 9000 Communicator - a slab-like device that was futuristic for its time and which brought mobile data communications to the pocket before BlackBerry devices dominated the corporate space.

For much of the past decade, Nokia kept its edge. Unfortunately, by the time the iPhone came on the scene, its Symbian OS hadn't really changed much. All that was changing was the shape and form of Nokia's multitude of devices. Sadly, each time I powered one up I felt my heart sink, there was little change and you've got to remember this was before the app revolution.

Nokia's troubles have been well documented but you have to remember that it has great pedigree when it comes to actual wireless technology and quality communications.

Silicon Republic editor John Kennedy checks out the new Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone 

Microsoft's Windows Phone evolution somehow evaded me over the past year and anyone who can remember the Windows Mobile OS of five years or so ago shudders at the memory. The software giant seemed obsessed with putting desktop software en masse onto mobile devices, probably the same thinking that brought us travesties like Vista.

So it was with mild trepidation that I unboxed the Lumia 800. I already knew from reports from the Consumer Electronics Show that the 800 and its sister 900 were well received. I have to admit I was excited about a Nokia device for the first time in five years.

One of the first impressions is the style of the device - it is elegant and features a kind of polycarbonate plastic that is scratch resistant and has a nice velvety sheen.

The screen made of Gorilla Glass appears slightly raised and there are just three symbols (a back button, a Windows emblem and a search key) that denote functionality. Emblazoned on the top is the familiar Nokia logo. The back of the device reveals a 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera lens and flash.

Every smartphone today is given the obvious similarity test with the iPhone and the use of a micro-SIM and a white USB-connected charger plug is where the similarities end.

The device weighs just 142 grams and comes with 16GB of internal memory and 512MB of programme memory. The screen is 3.7 inches of AMOLED with WVGA 880 x 400 resolution and 16m colours.

In terms of usability, this phone is most unlike any iPhone - so for originality Microsoft and Nokia have pulled off a coup you can't quite say is true of rival Android devices.

What I liked most about the Windows Phone operating system was the simplicity and natural feel of the software - everything about it is visual and you know what you are looking for and I can imagine there being little learning curve for any generation of user.

A real return to form for Nokia

A nice surprise was Nokia's ClearBlack display, because everything behind the tiles is black and if you are standing in a dark room it gives you the feeling that everything is floating on air. If you look at the tiles from the side of the phone it feels as if they are actually part of the glass rather than buried under the material.

The Windows Phone 7.5 (that's Mango) device could be termed what I would call a crossover device - it is ideal for the professional user who wants style and elegance but who also wants to enjoy his or her digital and social lifestyle.

For example, the phone connects in an arresting visual display to your Xbox Live hub and your 3D avatar, as well as featuring Zune media-playing technology.

As a business and productivity device it is surprisingly versatile - it connects to and synchronises with Office 365 applications, like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, not to mention Lync and Sky Drive.

I particularly like the way it integrates you and your friends' social activity into the dynamic address book. Very clever and visually arresting.

Nokia has made a very elegant device that should start conversations but the real winner is how smooth the software is to use. Not only is it fast but in the programme menu if you slide the list down with your finger to the bottom, the display actually compresses the words, giving a really physical feeling to the software.

While I found the device to be versatile, I wasn't totally happy with the battery life but this was probably because I was using it primarily as a data device and after that as a phone.

Talk time on the device in GSM zones is up to 13 hours and 265 hours on standby. Video playback time is 6.5 hours, music playback is up to 55 hours and browsing over 3G and HSDPA is up to 4.5 hours.

All in all, I think this is a fantastic achievement by Nokia, a real return to form.

The Nokia Lumia 800 has an RRP from free with Vodafone MyWay bill pay plans and will be priced at €429.99 on pay as you go.

The Samsung Galaxy S II was first released at the end of April. It featured a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED 480 x 800 resolution touchscreen, a dual core processor, an 8-megapixel camera and was 8.43mm thick.

Samsung’s flagship Android smartphone proved to be quite popular among consumers, selling 5m units by the end of July.

Currently, nothing has been revealed about the next version of the phone, though many expect a faster processor and an improved screen.

Almost 25pc of the 149m smartphones shipped worldwide in Q4 were iPhones.

While Apple overtook Samsung to reach No 1, the Korean giant has increased its market share four-fold since Q1 2010: from 4.7pc to 21.7pc.

Samsung's rise is forcing Apple to continue offering older models to keep ahead, according to Juniper.

While Apple sold 4m iPhone 4Ss within three days of launch, the company's return to top spot was partly driven by continuing to offer the iPhone 3GS - first launched in 2009 - at rock-bottom prices.

Juniper believes this is an effort to shore up Apple's defences again a bombardment of standard and premium smartphones from Samsung.

Battle of the brands

Daniel Ashdown, research analyst with Juniper Research, notes: "The scale of Samsung's product range is saturating the market. Apple has had to counter Samsung's products, like the Galaxy Ace, in order to maintain the visibility of its brand."

While Apple and Samsung have traded places for the past three quarters, results of other OEMs were more muted.

Taiwan-based HTC was the only other member of the top 5 to see significant year-on-year growth.

Juniper estimates, prior to official data, that the company shipped 12.1m smartphones in Q4.

Elsewhere, troubled Blackberry maker RIM's woes will be soothed somewhat, as shipments remained steady year-on-year at 14.4m, down just 0.7pc. The year 2012 will be an important year for Nokia as it looks to fight back with a full year of Windows Phone 7 launches. The Finnish OEMs' smartphone shipments were down 31pc year-on-year in the fourth quarter.

Sony has unveiled two new compact cameras, the Cybershot WX50 and the Cybershot WX70, which both feature 16.2-megapixel Exmore R CMOS sensors with Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar lens.

Both cameras offer similar specs, though the WX50 has a 2.7-inch, 460k-dot resolution LCD screen and weighs 117g, while the WX70 has a 3-inch, 921k-dot resolution LCD screen and weighs 114g.

The cameras include Extra High Sensitivity technology, which boosts the cameras’ sensitivity to ISO 128000. Sony has said noise levels have been reduced to a sixth of previous Cybershot cameras, aiming to offer sharper, low-light shots.

They both include image stabilisation technology to stop camera shake when shooting Full HD movies and when taking shots at high-zoom levels.

Both the Sony Cybershot WX50 and the Sony Cybershot WX70 will be released in Europe from mid-March.

User data on Megaupload could be deleted by Thursday - report

Reports suggest that user data stored on file-sharing site Megaupload could be deleted by Thursday.

According to the Associated Press, a letter filed by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said storage firms Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group may delete data from the service on Thursday.

Megaupload hires external companies to store the data for a fee, but the US government has frozen its money, preventing it from paying these companies.

The US government has reportedly copied some data from the servers but did not physically take them. Now that it has executed its search warrants it has no right to access this user data.

Seven people involved with Megaupload were charged last week with running an “international organised criminal enterprise” through the site. The US Justice Department claims these individuals are responsible for “massive worldwide online piracy of numerous types of copyrighted works,” generating more than US$175m.

Megaupload’s attorney Ira Rothken said the company is working with prosecutors to try and prevent this data from being erased.

EU approves of Sony’s buyout of Sony Ericsson

The EU has approved of Sony’s plans to acquire its stake in the Sony Ericsson joint venture to take full control of the company, Reuters reports.

The deal was announced in October 2011, as Sony said it would acquire Ericsson’s 50pc share in the mobile phone venture.

It will allow Sony to integrate smartphones into its own consumer technology range. It also gives Sony a broad intellectual property cross-licensing agreement of five patent families relating to wireless handset technology.

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Microsoft reportedly told them that it was an official prototype of a laptop featuring Kinect sensors. It could allow users to navigate through the Windows 8 OS using gesture and voice controls.

The tech giant is likely to licence the Kinect technology to hardware manufacturers to create their own Kinect-based laptops.

The report comes shortly after Microsoft confirmed that the Kinect will be coming to desktop computers at CES this year. A Kinect for Windows SDK will be made available to software developers for the platform.

The Kinect is a hands-free sensor which first appeared for the Xbox 360 to allow users to play video games with their whole body rather than a traditional controller. Microsoft recently updated the Xbox dashboard to allow users to navigate through it using gestures and voice, so its evolution to PCs and laptops seems like a logical next step.