By Sean Hemmerle .

Today's Sun features a classic front page. Who could not read on after seeing a picture of a busty female next to the headline "I slept with 1,000 men.. but I used to be a man myself"?

I have to say the strapline, "Telly cougar's confession", had me scratching my head. A cougar? I had to look that up and, according to the urban dictionary, it transpires that a cougar is "an older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man."

And I also had no idea who the woman was until I read the story. So I now feel as if I'm an unworldly member of the judiciary in the mould of that elderly judge in the 1960s who (allegedly) asked: "Who, or what, are the Beatles?"

Anyway, it seemed as though it might be construed as one of those red-top stories that, although interesting to the public, cannot be said to be "in the public interest."

That would be wrong, however. I am sure that Crystal's story might well help young people suffering from gender dysphoria, as the paper's superb agony aunt, Deidre Sanders suggested.

Doubtless, The Sun's editor, Dominic Mohan, might point out the value of such apparently trivial and titillating articles when he is recalled by the Leveson inquiry. It might raise a smile before he answers questions about the merits (!) of continuing to publish Page 3 girls.

Hal, Annie and Tom tell Dan Martin that they're ready to vamp it up as BBC3's supernatural comedy drama returns for a fourth series

It's all change at Barry Island's Honolulu Heights as Being Human returns for its fourth series on Sunday. Aidan Turner's Mitchell is slain, we know Russell Tovey won't be around for long, and Sinead Keenan has not even filmed an exit. So where next for our favourite supernatural flatshare? We spoke to the revamped cast to find out.

Hal (Damien Molony)

As vampire Hal, newcomer Damien Molony perhaps has the most difficult job. Not only is he the new boy, but Aidan Turner's smouldering Mitchell cast an ever bigger shadow over what was always supposed to be an ensemble cast. That wasn't lost on the Irishman. But, he says: "As soon I talked to Toby and read the scripts, I realised I'm not replacing Mitchell. Hal is a new character with new problems. I thought it was exciting to play a vampire who tore the world apart for 500 years and now suddenly has had a change of heart and now suddenly wants to become clean. He develops OCD tactics to overcome his bloodlust.."

Hal's insular methods of dealing with that bloodlust are a marked contrast to the craven Mitchell. "I always approached Hal as a kind of a drug addict rather than a sex addict," says Molony.

But while an elegant, upper-class English gent, Hal is perhaps a more dangerous proposition for the residents of Barry than Mitchell. One of the fabled Old Ones, we pick him up in the present day, following the online prequel that saw him befriend werewolf Leo. Along with their ghostly friend Pearl, we find he's been living in a rather more functional version of the Being Human set-up in Southend, since 1955. "Unfortunately something happens and Hal is left on his own without his two best friends to keep him dry and to keep him safe. There's this house in Barry which promises safety but so much shit goes on in that house that it's not a good place for him to be." With the Old Ones said to be returning, none of this can augur well.

Annie (Lenora Crichlow)

As the last supernatural standing from the original series, it falls to Lenora Crichlow to take centre stage. Lucky then, that the ghostly Annie, still stuck in that grey cardigan five years after her murder, has spent the last three series building her confidence. It's been hinted at for some time that Annie is more powerful than anyone could possibly imagine, and with a devilish wink, Crichlow nods: "Definitely. She has no idea of her own strength; she's going to shock us all – she shocks me. It's almost like she's destined for some great things if she can just believe in herself, so it's a journey for her to get to that point."

Last year, Annie had her big love story with Mitchell, but this time she takes a different role with Michael Socha's orphaned werewolf, Tom, not to mention George and Nina's baby. "Annie's found her inner maternal side definitely this series; she's gone into Earth Mother mode big time," says Crichlow.

"And reaching the ripe old age of 27, I really related to Annie because those nesting maternal instincts are certainly buzzing around my head and it's been lovely to be able to play them out on screen. We had four sets of twins on set – I was broody as hell!"

But, with this series looking to belong to Annie as last year's did to Mitchell, is Crichlow still pledging her own future to the show? "To be honest I don't know. With all the characters, I do trust the journeys they've been on. We don't even know if we've got another series yet, but this one is quite epic for Annie, and I do trust that she's kind of done everything she came to do. If this was it, it would be ending on a really good high."

Tom (Michael Socha)

When Toby Whithouse and producer Phillip Trethowan asked Michael Socha if he would return for series four, he had no idea that Tovey was leaving and he would be promoted to a lead character. But after years in the shadow of his talented sister Lauren (Misfits), Being Human now gives him a chance to take centre stage. "I thought 'fucking hell, this is the biggest job I've ever had in my life and the best opportunity I've ever been given."

Werewolf Tom spent his life living ferally in the woods with his father McNair, killing vampires and searching for his "pack". When McNair was revealed to not be his father, and was then slain by Herrick, Tom was left adrift. "He is desperate to be part of that pack. He's had enough of living on his own catching rabbits; he wants to be part of this human world. I think it's time for Tom to grow up."

Tom takes refuge at Honolulu Heights, and it's the tender parental relationship with Annie that lends this increasingly dark series a lot of its comedy and heart. "I think Tom needs to be mothered," says Socha "because he's never had that. He's never learned the little details of life that we all take for granted, he hasn't got a clue. He doesn't understand that you can't be bringing weapons into the house; you can't be leaving your mess everywhere. Annie's teaching him along the way and he's probably getting on her nerves half the time. But Tom's a polite lad."

But where George has never really come to terms with his lupine "curse", Tom sees it as a blessing. And hating vampires wholesale, he's unimpressed at the arrival of Hal. "At first Tom's not having it … [but] he learns things along the way and he decides to be a friend to Hal. He's told not to judge and to treat everybody fair until they do something wrong …"

• Being Human: Sunday 9pm, BBC3

Today's Sun features a classic front page. Who could not read on after seeing a picture of a busty female next to the headline "I slept with 1,000 men.. but I used to be a man myself"?

I have to say the strapline, "Telly cougar's confession", had me scratching my head. A cougar? I had to look that up and, according to the urban dictionary, it transpires that a cougar is "an older woman who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man."

And I also had no idea who the woman was until I read the story. So I now feel as if I'm an unworldly member of the judiciary in the mould of that elderly judge in the 1960s who (allegedly) asked: "Who, or what, are the Beatles?"

Anyway, it seemed as though it might be construed as one of those red-top stories that, although interesting to the public, cannot be said to be "in the public interest."

That would be wrong, however. I am sure that Crystal's story might well help young people suffering from gender dysphoria, as the paper's superb agony aunt, Deidre Sanders suggested.

Doubtless, The Sun's editor, Dominic Mohan, might point out the value of such apparently trivial and titillating articles when he is recalled by the Leveson inquiry. It might raise a smile before he answers questions about the merits (!) of continuing to publish Page 3 girls.

What's new on the app stores on Friday 3 February 2012

Super Bowl XLVI Guide

The NFL has launched an official Super Bowl app just in time for its season finale, as the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots. It includes a guide to host venue Indianapolis and an NFL Huddle feature to keep tabs on social media buzz around the event. The link above is for Android, but here's the iOS version.
Android / iPhone / iPad

RBS 6 Nations Live Challenge

In a big day for fans of chasing odd-shaped balls round a field, rugby's 6 Nations tournament also has an official app. Here, the focus is more on testing your knowledge: answering trivia questions before matches, then predicting the results of conversions and penalty kicks during games. Facebook is integrated to see how you compare to your friends' scores.
Android / iPhone / iPad

Avid Studio

Avid's tools have been used by professional film and TV editors for a long time, but now the company wants to take on Apple's iMovie on iPad. Avid Studio is aimed at regular users looking to edit their home movies and share them on YouTube and Facebook. However, it can also export to the PC version of Avid Studio.
iPad

Marie Claire Runway Spring/Summer 2012

IPC has launched a new offshoot from its Marie Claire magazine – Marie Claire Runway – focused on fashion. It's a standalone print mag, but also an iPad app that costs £2.99 versus the print issue's £6. Expect footage from fashion shows and editors' verdicts on the key trends.
iPad

Camden Crawl

Going to London's Camden Crawl festival in May? There's an app for that, with schedules, artist info, maps, social features and "money saving offers". The latter will have to be good to convince people to pay £2.99 for the app, we sense.
iPhone

Remarks – Write notes and Annotate PDFs

Readdle's latest iPad app does what it says on the tin, enabling you to take a PDF file and add annotations, highlighting, underlining and scribbles. Social features mean you can also collaborate with other Remarks users.
iPad

Gameloft Live!

Mobile games publisher Gameloft has launched a standalone Android app for its Gameloft Live! community, with mesaging, discounts and other social features built in. It's fair to say Microsoft is an inspiration: there are 3D avatars and a "gamer score".
Android

Doodlecast Pro

Doodlecast was a fun app for children that let them draw while recording their voice, turning the results into a video to be shared with family. Now the idea has evolved into a professional tool for presentations: "Perfect for teachers, students, business people and anyone needing an elegant way to share ideas..."
iPad

TallyTots

iOS kid-app TallyTots has made the leap onto Android, offering 20 mini-games to teach children the numbers one to 20. Chipmunks, apples and racing cars are all promised, along with a song.
Android

Guess Who? for iPad

Sadly nothing to do with the famous boardgame, but still a very interesting app. Based on Kyoung Kook Lee's print book of the same name, this gets children to guess which characters are coming up on the next page, while listening to music and recording their own voices.
iPad

Despicable Me: Storybook

More iPad fun for kids comes with this book-app based on the animated movie Despicable Me. The core storyline is augmented with a soundboard, interactive blueprints and other playful features.
iPad

Sir Benfro's Brilliant Balloon

Lovely-looking iOS game Sir Benfro's Brilliant Balloon sees you flying the "naturalist, scientist and explorer" through forests, oceans and down into the depths of the Earth in search of bizarre beasts.
iPhone / iPad

BlipSnips Social Video

Android's equivalent to SocialCam on iOS makes its debut. BlipSnips claims to be an easy way to shoot, tag and share video footage, including pushing it out to Facebook and Twitter while tagging friends on those social networks within the video itself.
Android

Babylon Translator

Text-translation firm Babylon has taken its app to Windows Phone, translating words between more than 75 languages, with a currency converter thrown in for good measure.
Windows Phone

Sector 33

The latest game to follow in the wingtips of Firemint's Flight Control is Sector 33, which gets you merging arriving planes into a single traffic stream over California. The developer knows a thing or two about airspace, as well. Who are they? Oh, NASA...
iPhone / iPad

The Times of India carries this front page advertisement in its Madras edition today, in response to The Hindu‘s video campaign which was a response to The Times‘ insinuation in an earlier TVC that the “Mount Road Mahavishnu ” put readers to sleep.

Also read: Good morning, it’s time to go back to bed

How Hindu aimed at Times but shot DNA

Times readers affluent, not middle class. Mind it.

People are more likely to give in to urge to tweet or check email than other cravings, say US researchers

Tweeting or checking emails may be harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol, according to researchers who tried to measure how well people could resist their desires.

They even claim that while sleep and sex may be stronger urges, people are more likely to give in to longings or cravings to use social and other media.

A team headed by Wilhelm Hofmann of Chicago University's Booth Business School say their experiment, using BlackBerrys, to gauge the willpower of 205 people aged between 18 and 85 in and around the German city of Würtzburg is the first to monitor such responses "in the wild" outside a laboratory.

The results will soon be published in the journal Psychological Science.

The participants were signalled seven times a day over 14 hours for seven consecutive days so that they could message back whether they were experiencing a desire at that moment or had experienced one within the last 30 minutes, what type it was, the strength (up to irresistible), whether it conflicted with other desires and whether they resisted or went along with it. There were 10,558 responses and 7,827 "desire episodes" reported.

"Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success," said Hofmann. Sleep and leisure were the most problematic desires, suggesting "pervasive tension between natural inclinations to rest and relax and the multitude of work and other obligations".

The researchers found that as the day wore on, willpower became lower. Their paper says highest "self-control failure rates" were recorded with media. "Resisting the desire to work was likewise prone to fail. In contrast, people were relatively successful at resisting sports inclinations, sexual urges, and spending impulses, which seems surprising given the salience in modern culture of disastrous failures to control sexual impulses and urges to spend money."

The academics, who included one each from Florida State University and Minnesota University, said the subjective reporting of desire was relatively low for tobacco, alcohol and coffee, apparently challenging "the stereotype of addiction as driven by irresistibly strong desires".

They added: "Resisting the desire to work when it conflicts with other goals such as socialising or leisure activities may be difficult because work can define people's identities, dictate many aspects of daily life, and invoke penalties if important duties are shirked."

Hofmann told the Guardian: "Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not 'cost much' to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist.

"With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still 'steal' a lot of people's time."

Hofmann added: "We made clear to participants that answering the BlackBerrys did not count. Also people really did not feel a desire to use them – they only beeped once in a while and, if anything, that was more annoying than pleasing, I guess. And there was nothing else they could use the devices for."

Würtzburg had been the testing ground because he had worked there as an assistant professor until recently.

NUJ members 'overwhelmingly' back action over below-inflation pay offer of 1.75%

Journalists at Thomson Reuters have voted to strike – the first at the news agency in more than 25 years – over a below-inflation pay offer.

The National Union of Journalists chapel at the company voted "overwhelmingly" for a 48-hour strike next week, to coincide with the release of Thomson Reuters' full-year financial results.

"We tried very hard to reach a settlement with management but the company's refusal to improve its below-inflation offer of 1.75%, which follows years of effective pay cuts, has compelled Thomson Reuters journalists to vote overwhelmingly for strike action for the first time in more than 25 years," said the Thomson Reuters NUJ chapel officers, Mike Roddy and Helen Long.

"Thomson Reuters must shoulder the responsibility for this dispute. The company ignored repeated warnings that members had reached a tipping point, after years of below-inflation pay rises, combined with rising costs, that are pricing many members out of their jobs."

The NUJ said that the pay offer had hit journalists whose families cannot afford to live in London.

A ballot for industrial action saw 83% of NUJ members at Thomson Reuters voting in favour and the strike is scheduled to begin at midnight on Thursday 9 February, for 48 hours.

The NUJ claimed that Thomson Reuters was also "under fire" over its treatment of cleaning staff at its Canary Wharf offices.

Barry Fitzpatrick, deputy general secretary of the NUJ, said: "This strike is about fairness. The management is proposing a below-inflation pay deal, while holding back money for a merit scheme.

"This is just not on. While our members struggle to make ends meet on their wages, the management should be putting all the money into an across-the-board pay increase."

NUJ members at the news agency last threatened to strike in 2008 and 2009 over job cuts and working conditions following the merger of Reuters and Thomson.

Thomson Reuters declined to comment.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

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Operation Weeting officers ask former journalists to act as witnesses in the investigation into phone hacking

Several former News of the World staff have been called by police in the past few days to see if they are willing to act as witnesses in the investigation into phone hacking.

Former journalists at all levels at the now-defunct News International tabloid who have had no known involvement in phone-hacking have been asked by officers to give accounts of their time at the News of the World.

Some have been called in the past week by officers from Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police unit responsible for investigating phone hacking, to see if they are willing to give a witness statement.

The former staffers contacted say they have been asked to see the police on a voluntary basis. One of those contacted said they were told that the police were aiming to talk to as many former News of the World journalists as they could.

Another former journalist, who asked not to be named, told MediaGuardian: "I was surprised to get the call from the police but am talking to them about what it will involve."

The Metropolitan Police declined to comment.

Last month, News International chief executive Tom Mockridge revealed that the Met Police had just given the company permission to conduct interviews with News of the World staff.

"The company has been restricted in conducting its own investigation in order to avoid prejudicing the police investigation," he told the Leveson inquiry.

"We have, however, very recently obtained permission from the Metropolitan Police Service for Linklaters to begin its own investigative efforts in relation to the News of the World."

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.

Les Hinton's successor as chief executive of Dow Jones has been named by News Corp as Lex Fenwick.

He will be based in New York and report to Chase Carey, the company's president and chief operating officer.

Fenwick has spent 25 years with Bloomberg, most recently as head of its Ventures division.

Hinton resigned from News Corp in July last year in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. From 1995 until 2005, he was in charge of News International.

Source: News Corp

Time magazine's London bureau chief for the past five years, Catherine Mayer, has been promoted to Europe editor.

Good for her - she's an excellent writer. That fact is echoed in the hymn of praise to her skills in the official announcement of her promotion by Time's managing editor Rick Stengel.

But Stengel adds a nice touch by pointing out that "Catherine is also a rock and roll wife" because she is married Andy Gill, a guitarist with what he calls "the pioneering British post-punk band Gang of Four."

Source: Time Inc

There’s some useful reading list on media law on the International Forum for Responsible Media blog (Inforrm), where Judith Townend has collected together a number of academic papers on the subject.

The papers cover topical issues such as defamation, privacy and regulation of the press. She has also indicated those which are free to access, and others which require subscriptions.

See the full post here.Similar Posts:

• #aopsummit catch-up: Journalism ethics and the BBC’s Olympics coverage
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – media law tweeters
• Lord Lester ‘not enthusiastic’ about privacy laws
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – FOI blogs and websites
• Inforrm Blog: William Hague reports ‘postively damaging to public interest’

Time magazine's London bureau chief for the past five years, Catherine Mayer, has been promoted to Europe editor.

Good for her - she's an excellent writer. That fact is echoed in the hymn of praise to her skills in the official announcement of her promotion by Time's managing editor Rick Stengel.

But Stengel adds a nice touch by pointing out that "Catherine is also a rock and roll wife" because she is married Andy Gill, a guitarist with what he calls "the pioneering British post-punk band Gang of Four."

Source: Time Inc

Les Hinton's successor as chief executive of Dow Jones has been named by News Corp as Lex Fenwick.

He will be based in New York and report to Chase Carey, the company's president and chief operating officer.

Fenwick has spent 25 years with Bloomberg, most recently as head of its Ventures division.

Hinton resigned from News Corp in July last year in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. From 1995 until 2005, he was in charge of News International.

Source: News Corp

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Top stories on MediaGuardian.co.uk

Facebook IPO sees Winklevoss twins heading for $300m fortune
Twins who say Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea believed to have been given 1.2m Facebook shares to settle their dispute

Zynga shares soar after Facebook IPO
Social network revealed in SEC filing that Farmville, CityVille and Mafia Wars maker accounts for up to 12% of total revenue

Leveson inquiry: Sun editor recalled for questioning on Page 3
Dominic Mohan's return follows evidence from women's groups who argued tabloids should ban 'sexualised images'

This week's featured media jobs

Olsberg|SPI - Senior Researcher/Analyst
London/permanent/full time

ITV - North of England Correspondent - Daybreak
Manchester/contract/part time

Perform - Deputy Editor
Middlesex/permanent/full time

For more jobs, career advice and workplace news visit guardianjobs.co.uk

Today's headlines

The Guardian

Times editor faces Leveson inquiry recall over NightJack hacking claim. P7
Sun editor recalled over Page 3. P7
Thatcher film panned amid Falklands anger. P20
Sexism row jeopardises Oscar hopes for French Star of The Artist. P25
Is Facebook worth $100bn? (Er ... no). P28
Winklevoss twins in $300m Facebook payout. P28
Trinity Mirror chief faces rebellion from shareholders over £1m pay deal. P30

The Independent

The Times faces criminal inquiry over email hacking. P1, P4
Paul Dacre to be quizzed at Leveson inquiry. P4
Murdoch appoints new Dow Jones boss. P4
Mobile firms took five years to inform hacking victims. P4
Dark clouds gathered over Murdoch mean storms for The Thunderer. P4
Interview: Peter Capaldi. Arts, P4, P5

i

Editor of the Times recalled to Leveson inquiry over alleged email hacking. P8
Sun editor: judges don't have balance right on privacy. P8
MI6 takes out job ads. P17

Daily Telegraph

David Dimbleby denies BBC uses 'token women'. P7
Mother of stab victim condemns intrusive media. P19
Sun editor to be questioned by Leveson over Page 3 girls. P19
Times editor to be questioned again over hacked emails. P19
Facebook graffiti artist to net £126m. Business, P1, P4

The Times

Times editor recalled to Leveson inquiry. P13
Facebook status: ready to change the world. P24
Facebook graffiti artist to net £126m. P43

Financial Times

Sun editor warns of threat to newspapers from Twitter. P4
Facebook ought to ditch its initial public offering. P11
Investors seek things to like on Facebook. P19
Facebook IPO: Zynga shows the importance of collecting friends. P19
Internet groups bubble in wake of Facebook IPO fizz. P32

Wall Street Journal Europe

Police to probe email hack at the Times. P7
Op-ed: The public Facebook. P16
Op-ed: Julian Assange, Ironist. P16
Sony outlook dims amid $2bn loss. P19
Dow Jones names CEO. P21
The man behind Facebook's marketing. P24

Daily Mail

Facebook graffiti artist to net £126m. P11
Facebook 'is ruthlessly selling your soul'. P15
Mother of Abigail Witchells criticises News of the World at Leveson inquiry. P26

Daily Express

Harry Redknapp admits lying to journalist to get rid of him. P4
Facebook made us millionaires. P33

The Sun

Facebook graffiti artist to net £126m. P6

Daily Mirror

Facebook graffiti artist to net £126m. P17

Daily Star

Facebook graffiti artist to net £126m. P19

And finally ...

It is a far cry from the usual James Bond scenes of car chases and beautiful women. But Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, the MI6, has taken out a series of low-key newspapers ads designed to filter out wannabe Bonds with a low attention span. "Waiting is passive. Boring. A waste of time. But wait. Is that always the case?" asked yesterday's ad in the Evening Standard, which featured heavy paragraphs of text and a shadowy man sat in a hotel bedroom. "By reading between the lines, you've probably guessed what we're after." Oooh! Where can we sign up?! i, P17

Also on MediaGuardian.co.uk today

Leveson inquiry: mother of stab victim says PCC failed to stop intrusion
Baroness Hollins, whose daughter Abigail Witchalls was left paralysed, says press stalked family and fabricated stories

David Dimbleby defends Question Time against 'token women' charge
BBC1 discussion show host says sexism claims are 'a fantasy'

Trinity Mirror shareholders question Sly Bailey's pay package
Investor says her earnings are 'out of kilter' with publisher's size and performance

Trinity Mirror boss faces investor rebellion over £1m pay deal
Shareholders to demand Sly Bailey takes pay cut to reflect slump in newspaper group's share price

Mojiva claims to reach 1bn devices a month with mobile ads
Apps spurring rapid growth for advertising network, with tablets set to boost it further

BMW red-faced after sponsoring deadly Cooper cold front
Carmaker paid in advance to have current cold front – which has caused more than 100 deaths – named after its latest model

Reporter on the spot to witness robbery
Journalist keeps his head to take pictures as gang flees in jewellery heist

Is a Canadian publisher really Canadian?
More than 90% of shares in a Canadian newspaper group are held by US investors

Piers Morgan's CNN show moved to later slot in UK
CNN International shifts former Daily Mirror editor's talkshow from 8pm to 11pm to make way for Christiane Amanpour

Facebook IPO filing reveals mobile risks and opportunities
Social network considering showing sponsored stories in mobile users' news feeds

Ethiopia jails journalists – and one faces death penalty
Repression worsens as US-based writer is sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia

• Who is speaking out on today's big issues? - Business - NZ Herald News

Plus Windows Phone 8 feature list, and Henry Blodget asks: is Facebook worth $100bn?

A quick burst of 8 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Symantec recants Android malware claims >> Computerworld

Following from last week...

Symantec has backtracked from assertions last week that 13 Android apps distributed by Google's Android Market were malicious, and now says that the code in question comes from an aggressive ad network that provides revenue to the smartphone programs.

Except it won't call them "adware". And adware has the potential to be extremely sleazy, as many PC users can attest. Still, chalk one up to Lookout Mobile Security on this.

Windows Phone 8: What's on the feature list >> ZDNet

Multi-core processor support, new screen resolutions, removable storage, NFC support, data tracking, proxy server support, BitLocker, Skype and more. Might be very tempting for business in particular.

Facebook's ad business Is a $3bn mystery >> AllThingsD

Here's a question:

how exactly does Facebook's ad business work? We still don't know a lot about that part. The S-1 mentions "advertising" 123 times, and "advertisers" another 117 times. But when it comes to describing how the company actually sells advertising, it is vague. We know that some of Facebook's ads are sold via an automated self-serve system, and some are sold via sales teams working in 30 offices around the world. And we know that Facebook uses an auction system to price some of its inventory, and that it lets advertisers target users to some degree, based on their demographics and interests. But Facebook doesn't break any of that out in its filing. It simply has one big bucket labeled "advertising." There's no discussion of click-through rates, or the size of the average ad buy, or what percentage of ad buys come from repeat customers, or how "lumpy" its sales are.

Expect this to be gone into over the coming weeks and months.

Some 10.7.3 users encounter nasty bug; fix available >> PC Advisor

If you're unable to read this because every app you launch crashes, this is the fix. A real bootstrapping problem.

HTC admits some phones leak Wi-Fi details >> The Next Web

Complicated: you'd need an HTC handset connected to the Wi-Fi network. And then:

The issue would require the user to install an application that had been specifically designed to harvest details or was uploaded to the Android Market with the specific aim of collecting information. The impact may have been small in the fact that such an app will not see the reach as a more popular app but the security risk does exist.

Minimal but possible risk. Affects the Desire HD, Droid Incredible and more.

If you own one of the affected handsets, you may have already received the fix. If you do not, keep checking the HTC Support site for more information.

Five ways Microsoft can rescue Windows Phone >> The Register

Andrew Orlowski:

Many markets only have room for two leading players - and in the technology platform world, many have only one. On the margins the niche players are little islands. No matter how impressive WP is, if the needle doesn't move, then it too becomes a marginal player. Ecosystems can perish more rapidly than they arise. If Windows Phone is to avoid the same fate as WebOS then the dynamic has to change. But what might this be?

There's only one key problem from a user's point of view, and it's fixable.

Well, now we know what Facebook's worth - and it's not $100bn >> Business Insider

Henry Blodget's analysis pretty much defines the word "trenchant".

ChangeWave survey shows momentum for Amazon >> ChangeWave

Survey time:

ChangeWave asked 254 new Kindle Fire owners a series of questions regarding their overall satisfaction and key likes and dislikes, to gauge their reaction to the new tablet device. Customer Satisfaction. When asked how satisfied they are with their new tablet device, better than one-in-two Kindle Fire owners (54%) say they are Very Satisfied. Another 38% say they are Somewhat Satisfied. In previous ChangeWave surveys we've found that the percentage of tablet owners who say they are Very Satisfied with a particular device is highly predictive of future demand for that device. So how does the Amazon tablet rating match up against other tablet devices? While the 54% Very Satisfied rating for the Kindle Fire is considerably below the 74% rating of the industry leading Apple iPad*, it is higher than the 49% average rating for all of the other tablet devices combined.

The 254 sample is probably large enough to be representative of 4m owners. The satisfaction for "other" tablets was 39% in a November survey by ChangeWave. That's pretty low.

You can follow Guardian Technology's linkbucket on Pinboard. To suggest a link, either add it below or tag it with @gdntech on the free Delicious service;

Senior international correspondent at CNN Nic Robertson discusses his recent experience reporting from Syria and the attack which killed French cameraman Gilles Jacquier

Developments in technology relating to social, local and mobile and how they can intersect have come together in a “perfect storm”, Sarah Hartley, community strategist for the Guardian Media Group explains in this week’s podcast.

Journalism.co.uk technology correspondent Sarah Marshal looks at SoLoMo and the opportunities for news.

The jpod hears from Sarah Hartley about the Guardian’s n0tice start-up; Jamie Riddell, CEO of Digital Tomorrow Today, investor in apps and  freelance technology columnist for Archant’s East Anglian Daily Times; and Lee Williams, general manager of Northcliffe Digital, who heads up the Local People sites, a group of hyperlocal sites launched in 2009.

You can hear future podcasts by signing up to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed.Similar Posts:

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Journalism.co.uk's news:rewired – media in motion conference is taking place today, which you can follow by searching for #newsrw