Facebook and Twitter integration coming to BBC iPlayer

Erik Huggers, the BBC's Head of Future Media and Technology, has revealed that social-networking tools are coming to the Player, with Twitter and Facebook integration already poised for launch. Speaking at the Guardian's Changing Media Summit 2010, Huggers revealed that the next iteration of the BBC iPlayer (dubbed iPlayer 3.0) will launch soon and Facebook, Twitter and Bebo were already signed up as partners.

"We are close to launching the third version of the iPlayer in beta which will have many more social functions embedded within it," explained Huggers to the Telegraph. "People will be able to bring their Facebook friends onto the iPlayer so they can share what they are listening to or watching with each other more easily."

For this content sharing to work, it looks like a password protection scheme will be put into place for the iPlayer, where you would have to add in your Facebook and Twitter log-in details to the site. Once logged in, users would see 'coloured puffs' of information about what your friends were watching and so on.

Alongside iPlayer 3.0, there will also be a lite version of the service launched which will be embeddable into other areas of the BBC website. Although Huggers was coy about what this would look like, he did note that it would resemble the iPlayer's functionality.

Sony: Motion gaming will not replace controllers

PlayStation exec Jack Tretton has insisted that the recent trend towards motion sensors will not kill the traditional gaming controllers. The SCEA-man insisted that the arrival of Sony's PlayStation Move, as well as the popularity of the Nintendo Wii and the forthcoming Project Natal from Microsoft, were not a threat to more traditional gaming.

"We have a 15-year heritage in this business which in some industries that is a short time, but in the game industry, it is a lifetime," Trenton told G4 at GDC.

"PlayStation has come to stand for accuracy, cutting edge technology, and we certainly give Nintendo all the credit in the world for what they have accomplished with motion gaming, but we really feel we ushered that in with the original EyeToy."

"So what we feel we have progressed to is the next generation of motion gaming experience where using the controller and the camera, we're able to get the most immersive, most realistic, motion gaming experience gamers have ever seen.

"The key though for the consumer is choice. We don't want to force motion gaming down their throat, so for the shooter fan, it's gonna be 'well, I like motion gaming but I prefer my DualShock', so that's going to be there for them.

"The thing about this motion gaming is that it's an add-on, and enhancement, and an extension of what already exists, not a replacement."

Facebook looks to disable 'stalker apps'

Facebook is culling some of the applications available on its site, believing them to be nothing but conduits for advertising. The ingeniously monikered 'stalker apps' allow you to see who has been checking up on your profile – presumably to give you some sort of self-esteem boost, by proving that people actually care about your entire life and not just your witty status updates. According to the BBC, a number of apps have disappeared from the social-networking site, including the idiotically titles 'Stalker Check' and the not-so-catchily named 'Who has visited my profile'.

"Don't believe any applications that claim they can show you who's viewing your profile or photo. They can't," said a spokesperson for Facebook, who has obviously tried one of these applications and were unhappy that no one was interested in their status.

According to Facebook, rather than actually do what they say on the tin, the apps merely push you on to advertising. These are completely unrelated to the site's gaming apps like Farmville which push you to violence. Well, the continued updates of how your mates are doing with their virtual farms do.

PayPal Launches Revamped iPhone App, Teams With Bump For Phone-Tapping Money Transfers

PayPal has just launched an upgraded iPhone application that adds new features and includes a facelift that’s meant to help instill a greater sense of security. And it also brings with it big news for Bump Technologies, the startup that lets you exchange information simply by tapping smartphones together: Bump is now prominently featured in the PayPal iPhone application as a quick way to initiate transactions.  You can download the free app here. PayPal has offered a free application for the iPhone ever since the App Store launched in mid-2008, and it has gradually been improving over time. Today’s release brings a handful of significant new features. First, it now allows you to send a money request to your contacts (it’s essentially a bill).

Second, you can now withdraw money out of your PayPal account and deposit it into your bank account. And there’s the Bump integration, which allows you to exchange money simply by tapping two iPhones together and entering the amount of the transaction — finally, an easy way to collect money from those friends who always seem to be out of cash. The PayPal app includes a few more minor new features. There’s now an integrated tip calculator and bill splitter, as well as a reminder function that alerts you when you need to send or withdraw money. And the application now integrates the ‘PayPal For Kids’ program, which allows kids and teenagers to access a PayPal sub-account that’s linked to their parent’s.

PayPal’s iPhone app is only one component of the company’s mobile strategy. Last spring it partnered with RIM for the launch of the BlackBerry App World store, and it has also integrated with eBay’s mobile application. iPhone developers can easily integrate PayPal functionality using a PayPal library. And aside from the iPhone app, it offers native PayPal applications for Android and RIM phones as well (the company plans to brings these apps up to speed with the new iPhone release over the next few months). This is also obviously very big news for Bump, which is still a young startup (the company took part in Y Combinator and was funded by Sequoia last fall). Bump and PayPal declined to disclose the details of the partnership.

Samsung unveils 'new' mobile running Windows Phone 7 Series

 

Samsung has joined its Korean rival LG by showing off a mobile running Windows Phone 7 Series. At the recent MIX2010 event, Samsung executives were on hand to chat about the new Windows Phone 7 Series - but they had a little surprise waiting as well. IntoMobile managed to snag one of the suits and ask about the company's plans for the new Windows Phone 7 Series OS - and it just so happened that they had a phone on hand to show it off.

But here's the interesting part - what was shown off appears to be a Samsung i8910HD (with new button icons) running Microsoft's new mobile OS. This makes us think that the company simply wanted to have some device to match LG - and the phone showed off won't be the final release. Of course, it could be that the i8910HD is the perfect chassis for WPS7 - after all, you'd only need to up the resolution slightly and increase the processor speed and the rest is taken care of.