It’s a trend that seems to be gathering momentum, with the number of book apps outnumbering games almost two to one over the past month. Next month’s launch of the iPad, Apple’s new tablet reader, alongside a dedicated book store, is set to accelerate the shift to electronic reading still further.

“The iPhone has always been perceived as a games-centric device, said Canongate’s digital editor, Dan Franklin, “so the idea that books are outranking games is very exciting.”

Franklin, who moved into digital publishing a year ago, said that his first thought on getting the job was, “When are Apple going to do something?” because “they have form”. A move from Apple into the ebook market will “bring new people to reading like they have brought new people to music with the iTunes store”, he added.

Read full story

(PRWEB) March 9, 2010 — A new report from Juniper Research has found that one-to-one marketing allied to the rapid proliferation of smartphones will be among the key drivers of a mobile retail market which is anticipated to exceed $12 billion by 2014.

The mobile marketing and retail strategies report found that the mobile retail sector - defined by Juniper as comprising mobile coupon redemption values, smart poster fees and advertising expenditure – would initially be dominated by coupons. However, it noted that mobile advertising expenditure would exceed coupon redemption values by 2013 as digital adspend is increasingly transferred into the mobile space.

Increasingly the retailing industry and brands are becoming aware of, and implementing the mobile device into, the retail cycle. According to report co-author Howard Wilcox, “Retailers have recognised that, even ahead of their wallets, people will usually make sure they do not leave home without their mobile device. The mobile channel offers merchants the opportunity to differentiate from their competition and acquire customers that become loyal.”

Meanwhile, additional factors such as the growth of the mobile web, the availability of high speed mobile broadband networks, and the ever-growing usage of SMS were offering retailers, brands and merchants new opportunities to communicate with customers and potential customers and to offer the ability for them to shop by mobile.

Other findings from the Juniper report include:
• For brands and retailers, mobile offers the ability to change campaigns quickly (for example by time of day), and crucially the ability to track the success and customer acquisition rates.
• Usage of the mobile in a live shopping situation can be particularly effective – for example for product price comparisons
• While the mobile will be an effective channel for younger users who organise their lives around their mobile phones, older demographic groups are likely to be less receptive to using their mobiles in a retail situation

Juniper Research assesses the current and future status of mobile retail based on interviews, case studies and analysis from representatives of some of the leading organisations in this bleeding edge industry.

Mobile Retail whitepaper and further details of the study ‘Mobile Marketing & Retail Strategies: Advertising, Coupons & Smart Posters 2009-2014′ can be freely downloaded from www.juniperresearch.com.

John Levett
+44(0)1256 830002

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3698244.htm

London (PRWEB) March 9, 2010 — The newly improved Financial-Spread-Betting.com guide is loaded with even better features and a more user-friendly approach to enhance the visitor’s experience. Besides a fresh new design and new features like the ‘Compare Providers‘, ‘Reviews’ and ‘FAQs Section‘, the site boasts an improved navigation structure, and enhanced graphics leading to an overall much better user experience.

Most of the content and sections which our readers have long found useful have of course been retained. The guide explains in detail the workings of spread betting and how spread bets can be used, what are the rewards as well as the risks, how they differ from conventional approaches and which trading styles are best suited to deploying them.

The spread betting guide has also been re-designed to enable traders to compare spread betting providers and offers whilst keeping themselves abreast of industry happenings and news; giving them all the information they need to make the most out of their spreadbetting.

We have made the following improvements:

Completely different look and feel:

http://www.financial-spread-betting.com/

Features include -:

- Clear Explanations and Examples of Spread Betting guiding the reader from start-to-finish
- How Spread Betting and Trading on Margin Works
- Explanations of how the Markets and Market Makers Work
- Tips and Trading Strategies to help Traders improve their Trading
- Accepting Stop Losses and the Psychology of Trading
- Spread Betting FAQ’s Section
- Reviews of Spread Betting Providers
- Interviews with the key people in the Industry
- The ‘Must’ Questions to ask a Spread Betting Provider before Signing Up.

For those traders and investors who are interested in financial spread betting but have no previous experience, our guide is a great way to get started as it provides readers with an interactive, step-by-step tutorial on how to become a spread trader.

About Spread Betting: Financial spread betting consists of speculating on the future price movements across a variety of assets, ranging from company stocks and securities to commodity prices, foreign exchange and indices. It is especially useful if a trader thinks a company’s price is likely to go down in the near future as one can use spread betting to profit from any decline (go short). Additionally, trades are exempt from stamp duty and any spreadbetting winnings in the UK and Ireland (under current legislation) are totally tax-free although this works both ways; no spreadbetting losses can be used to offset tax. The betting classification means that as opposed to buying the share outright, you are simply speculating on the price movements.

Spread Betting Example: Prices usually start from £1 per point movement so let’s assume a trader decides to bet £50 per point on Rank Group (RNK) when this is trading at 101p. Rank Group rallies from 101p to 120p on an upbeat trading statement, at which point the trader closes the spreadbet at 120p. The trader stands to make a £950 profit [(120p - 101p) x 50.

About the Author: Andy Richardson is a experienced stock market trading coach and CEO of Financial Spread Betting, Inc.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3676704.htm

(PRWEB) March 10, 2010 — Qhub.com launched on the 17th February 2010, enabling anyone to build a Question and Answers website of their own, for any subject in minutes. It is a way of encouraging and assisting knowledge sharing between like-minded people, groups, societies and companies through online communication - Q&A.

Sites are completely free to set up, customise and manage and in just 17 days Qhub has seen over 1,000 new site creations by people and organisations across the globe.

Qhub.com is an easy way for anybody – individuals or businesses to develop their own Q&A website targeting a specific topic. All sites can be easily customized and are simple to manage. Premium services are available for those wanting even more control than is offered as standard.

Key features:
• Free domain forwarding
• Easy customisation
• Spell checking
• Abusive language and spam filters
• Automatic member notifications
• Member mailshots
• Widgets for easy integration
• Powerful and easy to use moderation control
• Facebook Connect
• Twitter integration

Key benefits:
• Build your own online community
• Generate engaging content
• Simple alternative to blogging
• Great for customer service
Find out some tips & tricks about setting up your own Q&A website on their blog.

Co-Founder of Qhub, Chris Lee said “We are ecstatic that Qhub has taken off so quickly with so many great reviews and articles all in the first month. We have received some fantastic feedback which we are paying close attention to. We want to better understand how people want to use Qhub and make sure that creating a Q&A site is easy enough for anyone to do it.”

Start your own Q&A website for free

About Qhub:
Qhub.com has been set up as a new venture following the success of www.Blurtit.com - UK’s number one, independent, question and answer website. Managing Director, Tim O’Shea and Co Founder Christopher Lee who created the site, work with a team of nine people and run the sites independently of investment funding.

Contact:
For further information contact Charlotte Bullock on:
T: +44 (0)1692 403531

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/qhub/1000/prweb3697904.htm

The agency mapped the energy hotspots of English and Welsh rivers and identified almost 26,000 locations where turbines could be installed to generate electricity from the water.

Not all those sites could be developed, as some could damage the environment or are in places with practical constraints, such as difficulty accessing the local electricity grid.

Around half the sites are in environmentally sensitive areas and would need fish-friendly measures such as screens to stop fish getting killed by turbines.

But the EA said that with many of the potential locations in areas where humans have interfered with the natural landscape – for example by putting in a weir – there is potential to generate green electricity and improve the local environment at the same time.

Read full story

In Japan, Mexico and Russia, nearly 75 per cent of respondents said they could not cope without their internet connection. Ninety per cent of those polled in Turkey believed web access was a fundamental human right, making it the strongest supporter of the widely held sentiment.

“The right to communicate cannot be ignored,” Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC News.

“The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created.”

He said that governments must “regard the internet as basic infrastructure - just like roads, waste and water”.

Read full story

The surprise spot advert launched after the news emerged last week that the iPad will go on sale in the US on April 3 and follow suit around the world on an unconfirmed date in ‘late April’. British consumers will be able to buy both the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the device in late April, Apple confirmed. The launch date is slightly later than anticipated, but analysts have been warning that unspecified “manufacturing problems” could lead to some delays.

US shoppers will be able to buy the Wi-Fi only model on April 3, with the Wi-Fi and 3G model available later in the month. They can start pre-ordering the devices online and in-store from March 12.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, had been spotted on the red carpet at the beginning of the Oscars service. The brief TV advert succinctly demonstrates the devices’ numerous capabilities. The iPad, which has a 10in touch-screen, can be used to browse the web, listen to music, and watch movies, as well as download apps and read electronic books, magazines and newspapers.

Read full story

London, UK (PRWEB) March 7, 2010 — All the people who are Nintendo GS users and want to add more games and functions to their Nintendo DS console, NDS-Gear is offering a wide range of DS adapters and cards that will enhance the working of Nintendo DS. The customers can choose their respective DS adapters by browsing through the website of NDS-Gear. As the NDS-Gear is a direct stock holder of the DS adapters so the orders are delivered in 24 hours after the order has been placed online.

As per the official information obtained from the NDS-Gear officials, after a series of checks the much awaited iEDGE card has been released. After the huge success of EDGE DS cards, the need for the next version was pertinent which should have been compatible with the Nintendo’s DSi, DSi XL and DSi LL versions. The iEDGE DS card is compatible with all of these versions and has successfully gone through the testing phase. R4 v2 card’s menu system has been used as the base for iEDGE DS card thus enabling the faster working of the menu system. The console owners can play games along with the other applications.

The iEDGE card follows up from the earlier successful cards by NDS-Gear like R4i and R4 SDHC. Giving it another facet, the iEDGE card has been packed in a beautiful pack so that it can also be gifted to somebody. The iEDGE card can accept upto 32 GB Micro-SDHC cards and is compatible with most of the versions of Nintendo. Along with the iEDGE cards, the NDS-Gear team has also come out with the M3i-Zero cards which are also next generation cards.

The reply from the NDS-Gear team mentioned that the NDS-Gear does not import the cards after the order has been placed instead they maintain a stock in UK so that all the orders can be processed immediately. NDS-Gear provides round the clock customer and takes utmost care of the fact that all the orders should reach the customers in top condition.

Press release written and distributed by Content Axis (www.eContentAxis.com)

About NDS-Gear.co.uk:
NDS-Gear is a reputed stockist and seller of the DS cards and adapters in UK. NDS-Gear is known for the quick supply of the DS cards and provides the customer care service known for its excellence. The company has in house testing facilities to test all the cards, thus providing the best DS cards to the customers. For enquires feel free to call +44 (0)78 5655 1234

Contact:

NDS-Gear
6 Brent View Road
London
NW9 7EH
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)78 5655 1234
Email: john (at) nds-gear (dot) com
Website: http://www.nds-gear.co.uk

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3691814.htm

(PRWEB) March 8, 2010 — BigHand, the leading voice productivity vendor in the global legal community, has today announced that Top-30 law firm Nabarro LLP has deployed BigHand for BlackBerry® smartphones to 460 lawyers in one of the largest deployments of a BlackBerry dictation application globally. The BigHand for BlackBerry deployment will enable lawyers to get more tasks done when working remotely, enhance client service and is part of a firm-wide refresh of mobile devices that is expected to reduce costs by up to 40%.

Andrew Powell, Director of IT at Nabarro commented:

‘’Nabarro has been both a BigHand and BlackBerry customer for several years. Our recent BigHand for BlackBerry implementation was a central part of a wider programme of IT simplification and efficiency in response to the economic downturn. We have used VPN and least cost routing principles to significantly reduce our telecoms cost base whilst the BlackBerry deployment to more than 460 lawyers has allowed us to retire overlapping technologies such as DECT and standalone mobile telephony whilst introducing new technologies such as extension mobility across both VOIP and Blackberry handsets.

BigHand offers additional security of recordings on BlackBerry devices beyond the native settings controlled by BES policies such as encryption of internal & external media and remote kill. Extension mobility and unified messaging have also recently been introduced, and are making a significant contribution to business agility.”

About BigHand
BigHand is based out of Chicago, London, Sydney, and Toronto. BigHand is a Microsoft Gold Partner, BlackBerry ISV Partner, and was voted as ‘Dictation System of the Year’ at the 7th Annual Law Technology News (LTN) Awards 2009. BigHand was also nominated at the British Legal Awards 2009 as ‘Technology Provider of the Year’. Additionally BigHand won ‘Mobile Product of the Year’ at the CNet Business Technology Awards 2008 and ‘Best of Breed System of the Year’ at the Legal Technology Awards for 2008. Further information is available at www.bighand.com

Contact:
Jo Beckwith, UK Marketing Manager, BigHand Ltd

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/03/prweb3691134.htm

London (PRWeb UK) March 8, 2010 — Eze Castle Integration, Inc., a leading provider of IT services and technology solutions to hedge funds and alternative investment firms, today announced it was named an “IT Support Company of the Year” finalist in the MicroScope Awards for Channel Excellence (ACEs) 2010.

The MicroScope ACEs are designed to honour and reward the strength and depth of the channel, giving outstanding IT service providers the recognition they deserve. The “IT Support Company of the Year” award recognises a firm that has deep knowledge of the latest technology systems as well as the ability to support and maintain legacy systems to help customers control costs while meeting business priorities. Eze Castle was selected as a finalist based on its premier IT service, broad product and solutions offering and focus on outstanding client service.

“Since opening the Eze Castle London office in 2007, our team has worked endlessly to set a new standard in client service and help clients derive meaningful benefits from their technology investments. Being named a finalist for the “IT Support Company of the Year” award is exceptional validation of our efforts,” said Serge Bukhar, director of UK service, Eze Castle Integration. “Our goal is to act as a trusted partner to our clients and provide them guidance and technology solutions that enhance their business operations.”

Eze Castle supports more than 550 hedge funds and alternative investment firms worldwide providing technology solutions, IT services and strategic consulting to help minimize infrastructure risk and increase operational efficiency.

Online voting begins on 15th March 2010 at http://www.microscopeacesawards.co.uk. The announcement of the winners will be made at the MicroScope ACEs Awards on Wednesday 26th May 2010 at Lancaster London.

About Eze Castle Integration
Eze Castle Integration is the leading provider of technology, consulting and IT services to the investment industry. The company’s products and services include Startup and Relocation, Outsourced Technology Support, Professional Services, Managed Services, Telecommunications, Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery, Archiving, Storage, Colocation and Internet Service. Eze Castle Integration is headquartered in Boston and has offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Stamford.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/london/itsupport/prweb3697034.htm