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Scotland’s push for independence from Britain has moved into cyberspace. The push for independence, a goal of the Scottish National Party, has been tempered by the country’s government not having a majority government. But newspapers such as The Sunday Times are reporting Alex Salmond, the first minister, is to lodge a formal request with ICANN for the gTLD .sco. Scotland’s push for independence from Britain has moved into cyberspace. The push for independence, a goal of the Scottish National Party, has been tempered by the country’s government not having a majority government. But newspapers such as The Sunday Times are reporting Alex Salmond, the first minister, is to lodge a formal request with ICANN for the gTLD .sco.

The push is inspired by the awarding of ccTLDs to Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man and the .cat gTLD. The push is being led by Christine Grahame, a Nationalist Member of the Scottish Parliament who has been leading a campaign for Scotland to get its own identity on the worldwide web, said the move was essential.

Ms Grahame says a .sco gTLD would enhance the Scottish brand at an official level and “reinforce the distinctiveness of government in Scotland, and help improve further our external relations and national image.” She also believes it would distance the Scottish parliament from the bad publicity of the UK government of recent years.

Should it be successful, .sco would be used for all official email addresses and websites, with reports there would be an expectation all government agencies to change to the new gTLD immediately.

Nationalists believe Scots would be very supportive of the proposed change as thousands already display the letters “Sco” and the Saltire on their car licence plates.

A spokesman for the internet-based DotSco campaign told The Daily Telegraph the change would benefit the Scottish tourist industry, but added that using the suffix would be entirely voluntary.

The .sco proposal follows the proposal for .cym (Wales) and .ldn (London).

More information is available from The Sunday Times <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article3648301.ece> and The Daily Telegraph <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/nscot130.xml>, while The Campaign for a .SCO Internet Domain has its website at http://dotsco.org/.
 
 

Henry Ford would be proud of Ford Europe’s latest special edition. Offered only in black

– inside and out – the “Black Magic” edition is based on the new Focus Coupe-Cabriolet launched in this year Geneva. The package includes black powder-coated 17-inch alloys mounted to a sport suspension, plus tinted headlights and fog lamps. The interior is swathed in (you guessed it) black leather, complimented by special floor mats and bundled with an MP3- and Bluetooth-compatible stereo, parking sensors and wind deflector. Only 1500 copies of the Black Magic edition will be made available in Europe with a choice of 2-liter engines running on gasoline (145hp) or diesel (136hp) for Є28,100 or Є30,100 respectively. Check out the images in the gallery below for a closer look.source:autoblog

Now, we know the official story on the CeBIT Meizu shutdown was related to MP3 codec licensing, and not the M8’s iPhone-like UI. Still, it does seem strangely fortuitous that more pictures of the phone’s interface have just appeared that seem to showcase a move away from Apple’s familiar look. The Chinese site CNMO has new shots of the device’s music player, which now appears to incorporate song info, EQ display, lyrics, and volume / tracking controls all on one screen. The pictures also show a couple of different music browsing options, both in landscape and portrait mode. Is this a signal that the company is putting some distance between the M8 and the iPhone? Only time will tell.

Update: Some commenters here and on the MeizuMe forums are claiming that these renderings are fake / fan art. So it might not be healthy to get too excited about the above screenshots.

source:engadget

You know, we’ll actually be a little sad when the endless legal battle between Nokia and Qualcomm actually comes to an end — but until then, we’re going to revel in all the dirt that comes out of having over a dozen simultaneous lawsuits going worldwide. Nokia now says that it owes Qualcomm nothing for its “early” CDMA patents, because it’s dropped a cool billion dollars into license payments for them over the past 15 years and those deals have expired, so it’s in the clear now. As you might expect, Qualcomm disagrees, and says that if Nokia wants to keep using its tech, it’s got to pay up — that’s on top of the estimated $500 million a year Nokia’s already paying Qualcomm for other patents. Guys, guys, why fight like this? What’s a couple billion a year between friends? Video summary of the entire dispute after the break.

source:engadget.com

A recently unearthed patent filing shows Apple is thinking beyond its current living room video vending machine, the Apple TV. Among a number of new features, the design specifies how DVR information could be sent to a portable remote control similar to Apple’s existing iPod and iPhone, taking integration among its products to a new level.

And it’s not just working together for the sake of some superficial “better together” marketing angle. How many times have you heard friends discussing some great new show that you missed? With the capabilities Apple illustrates, one could perhaps call up the TV listings right from their iPhone and schedule to record the next episode. What’s unknown is how Apple would transfer recorded DVR shows to an iPod or iPhone — would recordings by synced through iTunes? And, if so, would they be tied to an authorized account to discourage internet redistribution?

In fact, while the addition of DVR features might raise questions about Apple retreating from selling TV shows, it would really reflect the reality of these show purchases being opportunistic (as well as perhaps serving as a tactic to bring NBC back to the bargaining table). Besides, DVR integration with the iTunes store could lead to more revenue opportunities. In the aforementioned scenario, the DVR could offer the opportunity to buy the episodes missed so far.
source:engadget.com