Facebook Adds Buy Tickets Button in Event Pages

Facebook is making our itchy trigger fingers more susceptible to impulse clicks, with a new “Buy Tickets” button emblazoned in event pages.

The social conglomerate confirmed that instead of having a bit.ly link to a third-party ticket seller, that area will now entice users with a button. It doesn’t sound like an enormous change, but that small switch will no doubt affect a psychology in click happy Facebook users. Or at least that’s the hope. Everything seems to be live in the Netherlands and Israel, so the new switch is confined to only a specific audience. It’ll make going to shows with your friends that much easier.

[Source: TechnoBuffalo]

Tesco Clubcard TV has free on-demand telly, sign-in wobbles

The fun of shopping at Tesco no longer has to end when you leave the supermarket -- now you can immerse yourself in Tesco all through the evening, with the company's new streaming service, Clubcard TV.

The service is free for anyone who possesses a Tesco Clubcard (if you don't have one, it's free to sign up), and puts a slew of movies and TV shows at your on-demand disposal, at the impressive price of precisely zero pounds. BatmanGoodness Gracious Me and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps are among the available programmes, the Telegraph reports.

The service is very similar to rivals such as Netflix or Lovefilm Instant, except for the lack of a monthly subscription fee, and the promise of more horse meat. You select what you want to watch, and the programme or film is streamed via your broadband connection.

At the moment the service seems limited to in-browser streaming, though as Tesco's promo video cheerily informs us, you can hook your computer up to your telly using an HDMI cable.

Teething woes

Signing up for the service appears to be borked at present, with three Clubcard-clutching CNET members unable to proceed past the Clubcard number entry page, which sees the site demanding a 'Privilege Card number'.

Privilege Cards are something given to staff once they've worked with the company for six months, so perhaps the service has been tested internally, and the supermarket forgot to turn off the Privilege Card number requirement.

Rival £6-per-month service Netflix recently launched its homemade House of Cards series, starring Kevin Spacey. Sainsburys, meanwhile, already has its own video-streaming service.

[Source: CNET]

O2 Tracks app offers UK Top 40 playback, for a price

If you follow obscure app-related news, you might remember that Samsung, MusicQubed and the Official Charts Company launched a UK Top 40 app last summer for owners of certain Samsung devices. That promotion's now come to an end, and this time around it's O2 that's partnering with the Charts Company with its own Top 40 app, fittingly dubbed "O2 Tracks."

When you first sign up there's a complementary free trial period -- 8 weeks for O2 subscribers, 2 weeks for anyone with another operator. After that, O2 customers can subscribe for £1 per week, while for others it's £5 per month. The music itself is delivered through a bright blue, O2-themed interface, with extra tabs for tawdry "celebrity news and gossip," if you're into that sort of thing.

Like the old Samsung app, tracks are downloaded to your device at regular intervals rather than being streamed, so any worries about data usage shouldn't apply here. For what it's worth, O2's app looks relatively well designed and clutter-free, but we doubt it'll be tearing anyone away from the likes of Spotify and Google Play Music anytime soon.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

Box offering 25 GB for free in promotion

Filesharing service Box is offering up 25 GB of free cloud storage in a new promotion (supposedly for "Gameday," but it seems to still be in effect anyway). To qualify, you must be a new customer on a free plan, or just sign up for a new account with a new email address. The deal is also for non-commercial use only, and because it's free, there's a file-size cap of 250 MB that you'll have to duck in under.

But even with those catches, who couldn't use some extra storage, right? Box's deal is as up for as long as they leave it up, so definitely jump on it soon if you're interested.

[Source: TUAW]

BBC iPlayer to stream shows ahead of broadcast

The BBC is looking at debuting some of its programming over iPlayer before it airs on television. The projected yearlong trial will test a variety of programs, Radio Times reports, but the BBC hasn't specified whether that will include established series or new ones. The BBC says there were more than 187 million requests for content through iPlayer last month and is hoping it will be a boost in overall viewing figures.

The BBC's first attempts in streaming online-only content includes the pilot of the BBC Three comedy Impractical Jokers. Prior to the first part ofDoctor Who series 7 airing in August 2012, the five-episode prequel "Pond Life" also was made available online-only. "Pond Life" also appeared on the BBC's YouTube channel at the same time it appeared in iPlayer. The first part currently has more than 1 million views just through YouTube.

[Source: TUAW]

Pirate Bay documentary now streaming, up for download on (surprise!) The Pirate Bay

Way back in 2010, filmmaker Simon Klose petitioned folks on Kickstarter for $25,000 to hire a professional video editor. The pro's task? Sifting through and editing over 200 hours of footage Klose had recorded that chronicles the journey of The Pirate Bay's three founders throughout their trial. Now, over two years later and after the case's conclusion, the documentary has premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and is now available for your viewing pleasure. Sure, you could watch the whole hour and twenty minute-long affair in 1080p on YouTube, but what would be more fitting than legally downloading it (thanks to a creative commons license) through The Pirate Bay? Hit the neighboring source link to start downloading TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard, or head past the break for the full film.

[Source: Engadget]

HMV closing 66 shops, with nearly 1,000 jobs under threat

HMV is bringing down the shutters on 66 shops, threatening 930 staff. After an angry employee hijacked HMV's Twitter last week, the retailer's administrators have finally revealed which stores are to be axed.

The 66 branches of the ailing music, DVD and games chain will close over the next two months. Read on to see if your branch is to be axed.

In England, stores will close in:

  • Ashton-under-Lyne
  • Barnsley
  • Bayswater
  • Bexleyheath
  • Birkenhead
  • Birmingham Fort
  • Blackburn
  • Boston
  • Bournemouth Castlepoint
  • Bracknell
  • Burton-upon-Trent
  • Camberley
  • Chesterfield
  • Croydon Centrale
  • Durham
  • Fulham
  • Huddersfield
  • Leamington Spa
  • Leeds White Rose
  • Liverpool Speke Park
  • London Trocadero
  • Loughborough
  • Luton
  • Manchester Market Street
  • Moorgate
  • Orpington
  • Rochdale
  • Scunthorpe
  • South Shields
  • St Albans
  • St Helens
  • Stockton-on-Tees
  • Tamworth
  • Teesside
  • Telford
  • Wakefield
  • Walsall
  • Walton-on-Thames
  • Wandsworth
  • Warrington
  • Watford
  • Wellingborough
  • Wigan
  • Wood Green
  • Workington

In Scotland:

  • Dumfries
  • Edinburgh Fort Kinnaird
  • Edinburgh Gyle Centre
  • Edinburgh Ocean Terminal
  • Edinburgh Princes Street
  • Edinburgh St James Centre
  • Falkirk
  • Glasgow Fort
  • Glasgow Silverburn
  • Glasgow Braehead
  • Kirkcaldy

In Northern Ireland, these stores will go:

  • Ballymena
  • Belfast Boucher Road
  • Belfast Forestside
  • Coleraine
  • Craigavon
  • Derry
  • Lisburn
  • Newry
  • Newtownabbey

In Wales, only the Wrexham branch will close.

Although not named in the list of doomed shops, HMV's flagship Oxford Street store is also thought to be under threat. The 50,000 square-foot shop could raise around £6m if sold to interested parties, said to include H&M, Zara and JD Sports.  

As many as 100 of HMV's 220 branches were reported to be under threat earlier this week, so 66 store closures is better than feared. That is, of course, small comfort for those staff who face losing their job -- fingers crossed they can find something before stores close their doors over the next couple of months.

Around 190 jobs have already been lost at HMV's head office and distribution network, prompting a disgruntled employee to hijack the company's official Twitter feed with angry tweets. The mystery whistleblower called it a "mass execution of loyal employees" and lamented that the company had been "ruined".

HMV went into administration last month. Restructuring expert Hilco has bought the company's debt, and could now take full control of the chain to ensure it survives -- albeit in drastically reduced form.

[Source: CNET]

Connected Data Secures $6M in Financing and Sets Out to Revolutionize Private File Sharing with Launch of Transporter

Online and Off-Cloud Storage Device Eliminates Privacy Concerns and Recurring Fees Normally Associated with Cloud Storage.

Santa Clara, CA – January 31, 2013 – Connected Data launched from stealth today to reinvent the way consumers, professionals and small businesses securely share, access and protect their data. In addition to general availability of Transporter from a national network of online and retail partners, the company also announced it raised $6 million in funding during a recent Series A Round, led by Floodgate Fund and Northgate Capital.

Unveiled via a successful Kickstarter project in December 2012, Transporter is a private data sharing and storage solution that gives users ownership and complete control of their data and files. What sets Transporter apart from all other solutions is the ability to communicate and share files with other Transporter devices located anywhere in the world. This ability eliminates all complexity associated with syncing files and delivers fast, local copies of data without having to move it into or out of the cloud.

“Connected Data’s technology is poised to disrupt the cloud storage market and evolve the way individuals and businesses share and interact with their data, both personally and professionally,” said Mike Maples, Jr., managing partner of Floodgate. "The increasing number of high-profile security issues with cloud storage have created an opportunity for off-cloud solutions like Transporter, so we're excited to join Connected Data in its mission to become the leader in private social storage solutions.”

Connected Data is led by serial entrepreneur and storage industry veteran Geoff Barrall and an experienced team of professionals previously responsible for the high-performance BlueArc Silicon Server and the popular Drobo storage array.

“Connected Data allows users to maintain privacy and control of their data, while enabling them to share and protect that data with other locations,” said Geoff Barrall, Founder and CEO. “We're thrilled to be leading the way in social storage with the Transporter device. The fantastic response and uptake from our customers and beta testers is allowing Connected Data to set the standard for what peer-to-peer storage can and should be.”

Transporter is addressing the main concerns of shared storage, namely:

Complete Privacy. Users own and control the device. Shared files are transferred directly between authorized Transporter devices, computers, and mobile devices and are never stored in the cloud.

Unlimited Sharing and Access Anywhere.  Users can securely share thousands of files of any size or type with anyone. All files stored on Transporter are available from any computer or mobile device that has access to the Internet, and files can also be cached for offline access.

Always Protected and Always in Sync. A full copy of shared files is kept on each Transporter regardless of location and changes are automatically reflected on all shared devices.

No Monthly Fees. Users own their Transporter, so the one-time cost of purchase eliminates recurring fees.

In addition to a successful Kickstarter campaign, the Transporter was recently named a 2013 Storage Visions Visionary Award Winner in the Art of Storage category that recognizes innovations in design for customer ease of use and industrial design in digital storage applications and devices.

Transporter is available for immediate purchase starting at a suggested retail price of $199 (U.S.) from a national network of partners including Adorama, Amazon, B&H Photo, Datavision, J&R, New Egg, and PC Mall.

SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] Frost Blue Edition now available

The award-wining SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] mouse is now available in a new Frost Blue Edition. Matching the color combination found on the SteelSeries Siberia v2 Frost Blue Edition Headset, the mouse is glossy white and rubberized gray with bright, blue illumination in three locations – at the scroll wheel, CPI toggle light and the SteelSeries logo.

As a refresher, the SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] Mice features the core essentials of a premium-quality gaming mouse, but for users that may not require all of the customization that the 32-bit ARM processor inside of the world's most customizable gaming mouse,  the SteelSeries Sensei, has to offer. The Sensei [RAW] provides users with:

  • BEST-IN-CLASS HARDWARE: From tournament-grade switches for intense clicking, to a pro-grade laser sensor and a CPI range from 1-5,700, the SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] delivers the best in gaming performance. Flip it over to find XL-sized UPE material feet for a smooth and consistent glide.
  • FROST BLUE ILLUMINATION: Its bright-blue LED illumination is featured in 3 zones and can be configured with multiple levels of pulsation. Powered by the SteelSeries Engine software suite, users are equipped with advanced customization options and the ability to create and store an unlimited number of profiles.

Additional details for the SteelSeries Sensei [RAW] Frost Blue Edition can be found here: http://steelseri.es/rawfrost  while high-res images of the mouse can be found at the following link: http://d.pr/f/bSp6.

Could Google be working on a unified messaging platform?

The screenshot above, while not Android, is extremely interesting regardless because of what it may be showing off. Posted by developer François Beaufort, what's seen here is a Chrome OS desktop with both a new notifications system and more interestingly a new app icon that we've never seen out of Google before. The "rich notifications", which show messages, calls and Google+ activity all in-line and within one pane are displayed in a new Jelly Bean and Google Now design. The new icon, to the right of the Google Drive app in the dock, shows four cascading Google-themed chat boxes.

This screenshot raises a whole lot more questions than it answers, and instantly gets us speculating as to whether or not this new notification system and app are a sign of something bigger than just Chrome OS notifications. Could this finally be a unified messaging service from Google? This could quite easily be just Google+ notifications -- missed hangout calls, Google+ Messenger messages and picture shares -- but we surely hope it's more than that.

Now of course this isn't Android, but it could have a huge impact on Android users if this turns out to be a true unified messaging service from Google. A unified messaging system that brings together Google Voice, Talk, Google+ and others would be a huge step forward for the integration of Google's often-disjointed services.

[Source: AndroidCentral]

BT Infinity goes Totally Unlimited, ditches throttling

Ease up off the throttle, BT. BT Infinity is getting rid of limits on how much Internet browsing you can do with new Totally Unlimited broadband deals.

Internet service provider BT is scrapping traffic management -- the practice of restricting your broadband speed at busy times, also known as traffic shaping, or throttling -- on many of its broadband packages. And it's also doing away with 'fair use' restrictions, which are limits on how much you can download in a given period.

Only the cheaper entry-level broadband deals will now suffer from caps on usage, but anyone on the beefier Totally Unlimited broadband packages can download as much as they want no matter what time it is, making the most of their high speeds.

BT has also dropped its prices. BT Infinity now starts at £23 for download speeds of up to 38Mbps, while unlimited BT Infinity 2 is £26 for speeds of up to 76Mbps. Doubling your speed for only three quid more -- it's like buying extra-massive popcorn at the cinema.

It's a bold move from BT, flying in the face of complaints from other ISPs that we're all eating too much data with our cloud this, streaming that, and downloading t'other. TalkTalk and Virgin Media are among those that routinely manage traffic, while Sky blamed its recent sluggish broadband performance on the number of new customers coming along and hogging all the precious bandwidth. Incidentally, it was recently revealed that Britain's average broadband speed is slower than some Eastern European countries

What's the catch? 

Is there a catch? There's always a catch, old friend, and in this case it's that you have to sign a new 18-month contract. Even if you're a short-timer with just days left on your contract you have to re-up for a year and a half. Meanwhile, new customers get the first six months free.

Although the Totally Unlimited packages live up to their name, you'll still be capped on the entry-level £13 deal and Infinity 1, which costs £18 per month.

BT has also revealed BT Cloud, offering free online storage for broadband subscribers.

[Source: CNET]

Raspberry Pi Model A costs £19, makes sun-powered robots

A new, cheaper model of the Raspberry Pi is now on sale, delivering a tiny computer for an even more affordable £19.33.

The 'Model A' micro PC is now out in Europe, available to buy from RS components for under twenty quid. It ditches the Ethernet port, but has a single USB socket and 256MB of RAM.

On its official blog, the creators of the UK-built device explain that the stripped-down computer would come in handy for tinkerers looking to build machines that are powered by a battery or solar power, because it uses "roughly a third" as much power as the existing Model B.

Robots, sensors and Wi-Fi repeaters glued to bus stops are some given examples, but it will be interesting to see what bizarre technological creations the ambitious Raspberry Pi community can cook up.

The Model A has half as much RAM as the Model B Raspberry Pi, but prior to November of last year that earlier version also had just 256MB. As such, you should still be able to craft the Model A into a bargain-priced media centre -- check out our guide if you're keen on giving it a go.

In January, the Raspberry Pi foundation revealed that it had sold roughly 1 million of the little blighters, while Google has splashed out to put 15,000 of the tiny computers in British schools -- a ploy designed to give the UK's programming industry a kick up the backside.

[Source: CNET]