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$13.8bn sale of O2 to Three’s parent company Hutchison Whampoa is going ahead

Mar24
by on March 24, 2015 at 5:38 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Mobile, UK

Hutchison Whampoa, the parent company of UK mobile operator Three, has today confirmed that its purchase of rival UK network O2 will proceed, subject to final approvals. In January, the operator confirmed that it had been in talks to take over the O2 brand in the UK in a deal valued at £10.5 billion ($15.7 billion). According to the Wall Street Journal today, the value of the sale is actually £9.25 billion (around $13.8 billion). Hutchison could also have to pay up to one billion pounds more if O2 meets its targets. Exactly what impact this will have on customers of either…

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Google Fiber is officially hitting Salt Lake City

Mar24
by on March 24, 2015 at 5:29 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

Google continues to expand its super-fast internet coverage: Fiber is now available in Salt Lake City. Fiber was previously available in neighboring Provo, the third Fiber city, but Salt Lake City covers a larger population. Google had been eying the city since early 2014. Google says it will work with the local authorities over the coming months to lay out the necessary infrastructure around the city. There’s no exact time frame for the roll out yet, but folks in the area can check out Google’s progress so far at a dedicated Fiber site for the city Back in January, Fiber…

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The mega guide to ideal image sizes for your social media posts

Mar24
by on March 24, 2015 at 5:09 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, guide, How-To's, image sizes, Social Media

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This post originally appeared on Buffer’s blog. You’ve got all the great tools to create engaging images for social media. You know what the brain loves about visuals and how to build something beautiful to drive engagement. You’re all set to make something great! One last thing: How exactly should your image look so it fits in the News Feed, timeline, or stream? There’s so much to consider in creating great images for social media—for me, the size and shape tend to get locked in before I even realize what’s happened. Yet the size and shape—the height, width, and orientation—are the elements that most influence…

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Hug for iPhone wants to replace emoji with something you can feel

Mar24
by on March 24, 2015 at 4:54 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider

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Hug, an app for iPhone that wants to replace emojis with physical feedback, is the product of ex-Googlers Petter and Kaspar Prinz, who also happen to be brothers. In short, looking to capitalize on the explosion of non-verbal communication via smartphones – most notably the use of emojis instead of words – the brothers sought a way to reintroduce physical feedback and contact into the equation. “Today friends, couples and families are living on different schedules and different parts of the world. The most written word in 2014 wasn’t ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’, it was the heart ♥ emoji. With Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp…

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‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ is a compelling read but won’t get you any closer to the ‘real’ man

Mar24
by on March 24, 2015 at 3:41 pm
Posted In: Analysis and Opinion, Around the Web, Becoming Steve Jobs

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‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ is one of those books that people will have opinions about before they even read it. In the run up to publication, both tacit and explicit support from Apple has raised it to the status of the book you need to read about the man and cast Walter Isaacson’s official biography as a poorly-rendered, partial portrait. If you’ve read Isaacson’s book or the many others that came before and after it, you’ll be familiar with the Jobs origin story: his early years, the beginning of Apple, the development of original the Macintosh and his eventual ousting from…

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