EE brings back customer services to UK and Ireland, better service promised

EE has announced that it is closing its customer service operations overseas and bringing the entire operation back to the UK and Ireland by the end of 2016.

That means you will always speak to an on-shore assistant when you call for help.

The company believes that by handling 100 per cent of its customer service calls in the UK and Ireland, customer satisfaction will be greatly improved. Such a move has been high on customer wishlists for a while.

More than 600 new jobs will be created in Merthyr Tydfil, North Tyneside, Plymouth and Ireland by the end of June.

READ: Your EE 4G phone will work “everywhere you go” by 2020

These are “areas that are challenged from an unemployment point of view,” we were told by EE CEO Marc Allera.

They will benefit greatly through the company’s “apprenticeship schemes for young people”.

“Increasingly customers expect better service online, over phone and in store. We have a long way to go and this will go a long way to improve things,” said Allera.

“By Christmas, every single one of our EE customers will talk to someone in the UK or Ireland.”

He also promised that the costs of hosting service centres in the UK instead of India and other overseas locations will not mean EE customer bills will increase. The cost of running the centres will be offset by various financial benefits, including a reduction in the number of complaints and calls thanks to better service.

Google is creating a startup haven to prevent staff from leaving

It’s hard to swing a stick in Silicon Valley without hitting startups created by ex-Google employees determined to bring their clever (though only sometimes successful) ideas to light. That’s good for innovation, but lousy for Google — and the search giant now appears bent on doing what it can to keep those curious minds in-house. The Information’s sources understand that Google is creating Area 120, a startup incubator that would let some employees pursue their “20% projects” (those personal projects Google allows in a fifth of your working hours) full-time. Anyone wanting to sign up would submit a business plan and, if accepted, spend several months working solely on that idea. You could scratch that inventor’s itch without worrying that you’ll lose your cushy Google job if it it doesn’t pan out.

The company isn’t confirming anything yet, and it’s not clear exactly when Area 120 would be open for business. Having said that, an incubator wouldn’t be surprising. Google’s existing attempts at fostering a startup-like culture don’t always stop people from jumping ship — just ask the ATAP team, which just lost its leader to Facebook. And in a few cases, defectors go on to found companies that directly undermine Google. Kevin Systrom, for instance, worked two years at Google before the eventual creation of Instagram and its acquisition by (you guessed it) Facebook.

The catch, as The Information notes, is that this idea nursery might not be enough. It’s relatively easy to raise funds in the current Silicon Valley climate, and the freedom of going it alone may prove more tempting than Google’s safety net. However, it could be worthwhile for the internet pioneer if even one big new idea stays within its walls.

Source: The Information

Beyoncé’s New Album ‘Lemonade’ Rumored to Launch on iTunes Tonight

After a world premiere on HBO last night, Beyoncé’s newest album “Lemonade” launched on Jay Z’s music streaming service Tidal, with a period of timed exclusivity not divulged by the service. According to sources knowledgeable of the launch plans for Lemonade, that exclusivity window might be just 24 hours, with the album’s release on services including iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play expected to hit Sunday night at midnight (via The New York Times).

Earlier today, Tidal announced that fans would be able to purchase Lemonade outright for $17.99 without having to subscribe to the service if they weren’t already paying users. The $17.99 “visual album” includes 12 songs and videos, including the one-hour special that debuted on HBO Saturday night. The album’s download cost on rival services will most likely be around the same amount.

Even though its download exclusivity will be quite short, Lemonade will remain a streaming exclusive on Tidal “in perpetuity,” according to an official representative at Tidal. The unnamed source officially confirmed to Billboard today that “the service will be the only streamer that will carry Lemonade.”

Tidal has had a few albums exclusively tied to the service that eventually went on to debut on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. Most recently, Kanye West famously tweeted that his new album “The Life of Pablo” would “never never never” come to Apple Music or iTunes, which it did about two months later. The move has even put West and Jay Z in hot water with their fans, one of whom is suing the artists and Tidal itself, claiming that they had a plan to “fraudulently induce millions of American consumers into paying for Tidal’s rescue,” using a false exclusivity window for The Life of Pablo as a ploy to bring new users into the fold.

Tag: iTunes
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Lensbaby Twist 60 review – CNET

The Good The Lensbaby Twist 60 is easy to use and delivers great results.

The Bad The aperture ring could use more tactile stops.

The Bottom Line The Lensbaby Twist 60 lens can add some well-rendered novelty to your photos and video.

I love a new Lensbaby: having an oddball lens to shoot with while neck deep testing cameras with “normal” lenses really makes a nice break. And I had a blast with the Twist 60, designed to reproduce the idiosyncratic characteristics of the 1890’s-era Petzval lens. It makes the center pop and renders out-of-focus areas with a lot of curvature, vignetting and color contouring. The resulting photos are fun and funky.

Lensbaby Twist 60 photo samples
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Unlike the other resurrection of the Petzval lens from Lomography, Lensbaby’s has a more conventional design (for them, at least) which just tries to reproduce the look of the photos rather than the feel of using it. That makes it really easy to use and a lot cheaper; plus, it’s available in full-frame Canon, Nikon and Sony E mounts, while Lomo’s is only Nikon-compatible.

It runs $180 without a Lensbaby mount (£160 in the UK, or when directly converted AU$235 in Australia) or $280 with a mount (£250; directly converted AU$360). As far as I can tell, though, it’s not yet announced for availability in Australia.

As the name denotes, the Twist 60 has a 60mm focal length, with a 12-bladed aperture that ranges from f2.5-f22 and a minimum focus distance of 18 inches/45.7 cm. The mount that comes bundled with it is basically a metal tube. If you buy it without, you can drop it into any of Lensbaby’s Optic Swap mounts. If you have a tilting version of the latter, Lensbaby says that you’ll get the best results with it in a nontilted position.

Astronaut becomes the first person to finish a marathon in space

British astronaut Tim Peake hasn’t been shy about his plans to complete a marathon while aboard the International Space Station, and he’s clearly a man of his word. The explorer became the first person to finish a marathon in space on April 24th by running the 26.2 miles of the London Marathon on a treadmill aboard the spacecraft, in sync with the race down on Earth. Of course, he had to fudge things a bit to replicate the experience — he used an iPad to show London’s roads as he ran, and he had to be strapped in to keep running in the microgravity environment.

Peake didn’t set any speed records. He finished in 3 hours and 35 minutes, which was well behind winner Eliud Kipchoge’s 2 hours and 3 minutes. The time also trailed behind the 3 hours, 18 minutes that Peake set as a personal best while on terra firma. Mind you, the astronaut probably isn’t about to complain. Whatever setbacks he encountered running on the ISS are peanuts compared to a historic achievement like this, especially when it proves that you can endure grueling physical tests in space.

Source: Reuters

Dutch police seize a secure communications network

The worries about criminals using encryption might be overblown, but that changes when a secure network appears to be used primarily with that activity in mind. Dutch police have both seized encrypted communications network Ennetcom and arrested its owner, Danny Manupassa, over beliefs that the business was being used for organized crime. Reportedly, many of the 19,000-plus users used the company’s modified BlackBerry phones as part of “serious criminal activity,” including drug trafficking and gang murders. Manupassa himself is accused of money laundering and possessing illegal weapons.

At the moment, Ennetcom portrays itself as a victim: a notice on its website decries an “international collaboration” between governments in an attempt to silence a defender of “freedom of privacy.” It also makes no mention of the seizure, and implies that any shutdown was necessary.

While it’s true that law enforcement is sometimes less than sympathetic to encryption, that isn’t necessarily the problem here. It’s more a matter of how that network was used, and how much its owner knew about what was going on with his customers. There’s a good chance that many users are innocent, but that may not matter much if the network operator either condoned the sketchier customers or was involved in shady behavior of his own.

Via: Reuters

Source: Ennetcom

Ben Heck’s mechanical TV, part 2

Welcome back for part two of the Nipkow Disc Mechanical Television build! We have the motors and vinyl set up, and now it’s time for the electronics and light box. Felix gets to grips with Linux and checks the duty cycles with an oscilloscope and multimeter. Now that we’ve reached our conclusion, Ben and Karen tear the project down and discuss what might come next. Have thoughts on what you would have done differently? Tell the team on the element14 Community page.

Acer Aspire S13 preview: Slim and suitably priced

When it comes to luxe laptops there are an increasing number vying for your attention – but all too often they cost a grand. Not so the Acer Aspire S13 which, starting at €699, is poised to take on the likes of the MacBook Air, Dells and HPs of this world. But can it truly keep up?

The Aspire S13 has some well thought-out touches to its design. The lid has a nano-imprint pattern that glistens when it catches light, diamond-cut edges are most pominent around the device’s trackpad, while a polished aluminium hinge adds some character.

It’s a slim machine at 14.8mm thick, undercutting even the MacBook Air. Slim means light, too, with a starting weight of 1.3kgs (that increases a touch for touchscreen tech and extras) ensuring this is an easily portable 13-inch machine. It’s not mega-tough, though, as there’s a little flex in that super-slim screen/lid panel.

Despite all these big words and lovely sounding materials, though, the Pearl White finish we saw felt like a middling effort. It’s not the unibody aluminium design of the MacBook Air that this Acer will be so readily compared to.

Pocket-lint

The S13 we handled came with a touchscreen to command Windows 10, which had plenty of brightness and decent viewing angles thanks to the IPS technology. Its 1920 x 1080 resolution isn’t the highest on the market, but Full HD for €699 is nothing to shake a stick at.

The trackpad is smooth to the touch and supports touch gestures, while the keyboard feels naturally spaced, offers back-lighting, but not the most satisfying travel of a keyboard we’ve ever used.

Under the hood there’s the capacity for a top-end 6th-gen Intel Core i processor and up to 8GB RAM. Want to spend just €699? You’ll be getting a Core i3U processor for such cash.

Other specs included full-size USB 3.0 port, HDMI out, decent 11a/c Wi-Fi and Dolby Audio. Battery life is said to hold out for 13-hours per charge thanks to a 54Wh battery, although we suspect this will be less with more powerful loadouts inside.

Overall the Acer Aspire S13 has some well considered design elements, but fails to feel super-premium when handled. Which is befitting of its price point, really: the S13 is a beacon of potential in the mid-level market rather than the MacBook Air-beater it so wants to be. But take it for that and there’s plenty to please from this slender and suitably priced laptop.

The After Math: Well, pay the man

This was not a good week for the major corporations of the world. Volkswagen’s diesel scandal has curbstomped its bottom line, Uber paid buku bucks to settle a pair of class-action lawsuits, Apple threw a bunch of money at a patent troll to make it go away (but only for three years) and, I swear, the FBI might as well use the money it spent opening the San Bernardino iPhone to start dumpster fires, they’re burning through cash so fast. Here’s who paid what and why, by the numbers.

Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ could be a permanent Tidal exclusive

The crew at Tidal just scored another exclusive album… and this time, its creator might not have second thoughts about the deal. Beyoncé has released the visual album Lemonade solely on Tidal, and sources speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Mashable and The Verge understand that the superstar’s latest will be locked to that one streaming service “indefinitely.” It might even be a permanent exclusive, according to the insiders. You’ll have the option of buying the album from download services in the weeks ahead, but you’ll likely be out of luck if you prefer on-demand rivals like Apple Music or Spotify.

We’ve reached out to Tidal to see if it can confirm the terms of the arrangement. It won’t be completely surprising if this really is a permanent exclusive, especially since Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z is a Tidal co-owner. Even so, it comes less than 3 years after Beyoncé surprised just about everyone with an iTunes-only album. If you needed proof of how much the digital music landscape has changed between then and now, you just got it.

Whether nor not this gamble works is another matter. The launch triggered a surge in demand for Tidal’s app as people rushed to sign up, but there’s no guarantee that the curiosity will persist, or that listeners will stick around once their trial period is over. Remember, Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo shot to the top of the charts the moment it was available on services besides Tidal — the exclusive was clearly holding it back. Bey is arguably more of a household name in the music business and isn’t under much pressure to widen access (she doesn’t have to recoup investments like Kanye does). Still, there’s the chance that she’ll reconsider if Tidal doesn’t bring the exposure or sales that she’s hoping for.

Source: Tidal, EW, Mashable, The Verge