Sony Corporation has acquired Ericsson’s stake in mobile joint venture Sony Ericsson for $1.47 billion. The deal will result in Ericsson’s 50% stake in the company now coming under Sony’s full control.

As part of the deal, Sony has bought out Ericsson’s ownership of  “five essential patent families” in an intellectual property agreement between the two companies. As part of the transaction, Ericsson will receive a €1.05 billion cash payment from Sony. That values the deal at $1.47 billion at current market prices.

The acquisition will give Sony the opportunity to incorporate mobile products into their other electronic offerings such as TVs, laptops, mobile phones and tablets which will enhance its ‘four-screen strategy.’ It will also allow Ericsson, once a strong contender in the mobile phone sector, to concentrate on its network gear business.

CEO of Sony, Sir Howard Stringer, has said in a statement: “This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want.”

source: mashable

Anonymous, the infamous high-powered hacking group known predominantly for their attacks on corporate and big-business sites such as Sony and the Bank of America have turned their attention to fighting child pornography. The “hacktivists’” latest target is web host Freedom Hosting who are being accused of knowingly hosting child pornography.

Anonymous released the following warning statement to all websites currently hosting child porn:  ”Our demands are simple. Remove all child pornography content from your servers. Refuse to provide hosting services to any website dealing with child pornography. This statement is not just aimed at Freedom Hosting, but everyone on the internet. It does not matter who you are, if we find you to be hosting, promoting, or supporting child pornography, you will become a target.

The attack on Freedom Hosting, which housed about 40 child porn sites, began on the 15th October when the group removed pornographic links, shut down access to all Freedom Hosting’s clients and declared the web host as “#OpDarknet Enemy Number One.”

Annonymous has not not only succeeded in crashing the sites hosted on Freedom Hosting but also released the names of almost 1600 users who frequent them. In addition, it took down one of the largest child porn sites in the world,  Lolita City, that is believed to have stored about 100GB of content.

Back in August, Anonymous launched a kill Facebook campaign to be carried out on 5th Novemver 2011. The group claimed that the social network provides information to “government agencies” so they can “spy on people.”

source: mashable

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange recently announced at the Frontline Club in London that WikiLeaks will be suspending its publishing activities temporarily as a result of the financial blockade. Assange stated that “In order to ensure our future survival, we are forced to suspend all publishing operations to direct all our resources to fighting the blockade and raising funds.”

The blockade, which has cost WikiLeaks a loss of $15 million in revenue and brought a stop to about 95% of its donations is due to the lack of financial support from major US financial institutions such as MasterCard, Visa and PayPal that WikiLeaks claim are due to increased political pressure from Washington.

WikiLeaks said in a statement that “The blockade is outside of any accountable, public process. It is without democratic oversight or transparency.”

Kristinn Hrafnsson, an Icelandic investigative journalist and WikiLeaks frontman, added that the financial blockade “wasn’t an attack on WikiLeaks, but an attack on freedom of speech.” WikiLeaks has over 150 pending publications and the company requires $3.5 million to see it through for another year. Unless the blockade is lifted, the website will not be able to continue.

Assange also added that WikiLeaks has been surviving on cash reserves for the past year and that the company is creating new ways to give money to WikiLeaks including SMS payments and bank-to-bank transfers.

source: thenextweb

Unfortunately for Gmail, a video of their new upgraded version was accidentally revealed in a video on YouTube. Before Gmail could remove the video, a YouTube user had reposted it. Although the video had already spread, it has since been made private.

In the video’s introduction, presented by user experience designer Jason Cornwell, he says that:  ”We’ve been hard at work to update Gmail with a new look and I’m excited to share with you some of the biggest improvements.”

The video reveals a number of more user-friendly features including a cleaner design, ability to adjust the size of label and chat areas, adaptability to fit any window size and new high-resolution themes. Conversations have also been redesigned for improved readability and includes the addition of profile pictures.

The search function has also been simplified, with a new search box that makes it easy to customise a search rather than users having to click through a number of search fields.

View the new Gmail in the video below:

Source: mashable

Nokia will reveal its new Windows phones to the world at the Nokia World event on the 26th and 27th October in London.

The news was confirmed recently by president of Microsoft’s Windows Phone division, Andy Lees at AsiaD. It is clear from Lees’s announcement that more than one device will be unveiled. Lees also stated that “Nokia will have differentiating hardware and software.” So, it certainly won’t just be a matter of the same software in a different shell.

Keeping in mind the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft it is expectd that Nokia will be releasing  one of the best Windows Phone devices to date. Hopefully it will turn the business around as Nokia had to cut some of its workforce due to poor smartphone sales.

image source: mashable

From DJs and entrepreneurs to celebrities and marketing mogules here is our top 20 most followed individual Twitter users in South Africa that we selected from a list of 100 and think you should follow. The top spot goes to artist Conor Mccreedy followed by 5FM DJ and Idol’s judge Gareth Cliff. Cricketer and test team captain Graeme Smith slots in at third place.

So if you’re curious about what they have to say or eager to learn from their success click on the handle below and get tweeting.

1. Conor Mccreedy (@CONORMCCREEDY)                    212, 704

2. Gareth Cliff (@GarethCliff)                                            190, 830

3. Graeme Smith (@GraemeSmith49)                            141, 454

4. Nonhle Thema (@NonhleThema)                                 87, 129

5. Nico Baird (@nicobaird)                                                 51, 948

6. Steve Hofmeyr (@steve_hofmeyr)                                22, 563

7. Justin Harrison (@justinharrison)                                  19, 125

8. Quinton Carroll (@BigProfit)                                          15, 705

9. Geoffrey Gordon (@geoffreygordon)                            15, 364

10. Rob Vember (@Rob_Vember)                                     14, 658

11. Donnette Davis (@donettedavis)                                14, 488

12. Slapman (@slapman4u)                                               12, 168

13. Matthew Bolkin (@Ixcoza)                                            8, 369

14.  Kojo Baffoe (@kojoboffoe)                                            7, 613

15. DerekD (@uncomman)                                                  7, 449

16. Jack Maringa (@mringalnc)                                           7, 255

17. Arthur C. Van Wyk (@arthur2point0)                          7, 134

18. Griffin (@watkykjy)                                                         6, 502

19. Reinhardt Gallow (@reinhardtgallow)                        6, 388

20. Mike Saunders (@mikesaunders)                                5, 703

Please note: The list above was sourced from twitaholics and was correct at the time of publishing and excludes group, publication and corporate accounts. The enitre list, from which we have chosen a selection of 20, may not be 100% accurate and figures may have changed, but we believe that it is a fair reflection of the popularity of individual users in South Africa.

Update – title tweaked – Top 20 followed South African’s on Twitter. That was our goal – not the top 20 to follow.

Back for a third year after sell-out successes in 2009 and 2010 is Mobile Web in Africa, South Africa’s premier mobile conference. The event provides the ideal business opportunity in terms of interaction, faculty and agenda.

Highlights of this year’s event include a special address and full day workshop delivered by Tomi Ahonen from Hong Kong, the most published man in the mobile industry, the return of Dr. Marc Smith from San Francisco and an entire day dedicated to the practical experiences of industry leaders in Mobile Marketing.

Other guest speakers include:

• Ronald Bach, Mobile Product Manager, News24
• Michael de Sousa, Vice President, Media, BuzzCity
• Musa Kalenga, Managing Director, IHOP World
• Johan Nel, CEO, Umuntu Media
• Walter Pike, Founder, PiKE
• Isis Nyong’o, Managing Director – Africa, InMobi
• Russell Southwood, Editor, Balancing Act
• Justin Spratt, CEO, Quirk
• Alistair Fairweather, Digital Platforms Manager, Mail & Guardian
• Belinda Lewis, Lead Strategist, Praekelt
• Mark Kaigwa, Partner, Afrinnovator
• Brett St Clair, Head of Mobile South Africa, Google
• Jean-Patrick Ehouman, Founder, AllDenY
• Candice Goodman, Founder, Mobitainment
• David Erasmus, Founder, Cubate
• Salim Amin, Chairman, A24Media
• Toby Shapshak, Editor, Stuff Magazine

Date: 22 – 25 November 2011

Venue: Hyatt Regency, Rosebank, Johannesburg

Tickets: R5000 per person for 4 days

For more information visit Mobile Wed in Africa’s website

The Azure offices in Kiev, The Ukraine designed by Kiev based Sergey Makhno design and architectural firm was intended to bring simplicity and innovativeness to the modern office space.

Sergey believes that “his imaginative vision is a combination of contradictory elements and the creation of artistic mixes from seemingly incompatible things.” This is reflected in the choice of furniture and layout where rounded tables, curved wall installations and bulbous light fixtures are placed alongside sharp edged chairs and tabletops. The shape of the distinctive furniture provides a soft and playful contrast to the stark and minimalist open spaces. The blue use of colouring, wood and lighting creates a calm and relaxing energy as well as a sense of motion. In this space simplicity compliments creativity.

Sources: The Cool Hunter & Sergey Makhno