File-sharing services, also referred to as digital lockers, enable users to easily upload, store and share large files on a server in the internet cloud. This includes movies, music, gaming applications, software tools, multimedia presentations and the like.

But digital locker companies  have not come up with a good way to consistently stop copyright infringement and as the result, they are often used as the platform to download copyright infringing materials, from the latest software to the latest Hollywood blockbusters.

With the federal shutdown of Megaupload, these other digital locker companies are scrambling to cut back on sharing content that could get them into legal trouble. Also gone is the affiliate rewards program many of these sites offer. This reward program pays its users a fee for getting other people to download the files that you upload to the site.

A check on some of these popular filesharing sites reveal their current statuses as of today:

MegaUpload Closed.

FileServe Multiple files have been deleted. Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued. Can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.

FileSonic Can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.

4shared Multiple files have been deleted. Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued.

FileJungle Multiple files have been deleted. Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued. Can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally. Currently testing out blocking some USA IP addresses.

UploadStation Multiple files have been deleted. Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued. Can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally. Currently testing out blocking some USA IP addresses.

VideoBB Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued.

Uploaded.to All U.S. IP addresses have been blocked, essentially blocking all U.S. users from visiting or using the site.

FilePost Started suspending accounts with infringing material. Can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally.
Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued.

VideoZer Affiliate rewards program have been discontinued.

UploadBox Will be closing down, all files will be deleted on January 30th.

x7.to Have closed down.

There is a high probability that these other digital locker companies will share a similar fate to Megaupload if they are unable to prove that they are legitimately trying to combat piracy. The fact that the companies listed above have ceased the sharing functionality on their sites just goes to show that they probably haven’t done enough in the past.

File-sharing Sites Cut Back on Sharing in the Aftermath of Crackdown on Megaupload originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 27, 2012.

At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas today, Huawei unveiled the Ascend P1 S, which it claims is the world’s slimmest smartphone.

Running on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, the Ascend P1 S is only 6.68mm thin; in comparison, the Motorola RAZR is 7.1mm thick and the Samsung Galaxy S II is 8.49mm thick. In addition to its super slim form factor, the Ascend P1 S is also the fastest and most compact smartphone in its class, with a dual-core 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4460 Cortext-A9 processor with 1GB of RAM.

And that’s not all! The Ascend P1 S boasts a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display with HD resolution of 960×540, toughened with Corning’s Gorilla Glass for extra durability. For imaging, it comes with a back-lit 8MP camera and a front facing 1.3MP camera. Users can also experience its built-in 1080p HD video-capture capabilities.

“We’re excited to unveil the world’s slimmest smartphone here at CES 2012,” said Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei Device. “The Ascend P1 S demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovating high quality devices that utilize the latest hardware and software technologies.”

No pricing has been revealed for the Huawei Ascend P1 S yet, but it is expected to be available in Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, Australia, Middle East, and China from April 2012. A lower end model, the Ascend P1,  which is slightly thicker at 7.69mm (but carries roughly the same specification) will also be offered.

Promo Video of Huawei Ascend P1 / P1 S

Huawei Unveils the World’s Slimmest Android Smartphone originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 10, 2012.

Michael Flanagan, the chief technology officer at Arieso noted that “I use the iPhone 4 myself and when I first heard of the iPhone 4S features I was not compelled to rush out and get one. However, the data usage numbers I am seeing make me wonder what I am missing.”

The report, which was covered by Reuters, indicate that this doubling in data usage may be due to increasing use of online services like the virtual personal assistant Siri, which was bundled with the iPhone 4S.

This is not necessarily a good thing though. Arieso warns that the capacity issues plaguing mobile operators around the world will worsen in 2012.

According to Flanagan, “The introduction of increasingly sophisticated devices, coupled with growing consumer demand, is creating unrelenting pressure on mobile networks”. Because of this, he suggests that the mobile industry needs new investment and new approaches to boost network performance and manage the customer experience.

iPhone 4S Users are the “Hungriest” Data Consumers: Study originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 9, 2012.

MAS launched its MHBuddy app in February 2011, which allows its customers to book tickets, select seats, access travel itinerary and also, flight check-ins. The app taps into users’ social graph i.e. share travel plans and experiences with family and friends on Facebook, identifying who might be sharing the same flight, among others. The app was developed for MAS by SITA Lab.

MAS is one of the prominent users of social media in Malaysia. To date, its Facebook Page has over 400,000 Likes and in the top 20 of the Most Popular Facebook Pages in Malaysia list. The MHBuddy Facebook app offers a unique convenience and effective means to engage meaningfully with its customers on Facebook.

Said MAS senior vice-president (Corporate Marketing and Loyalty Programme), Raja Datuk Nordiana Zainal Shah:

Some 80 per cent of MHbuddy users are Enrich members, and therefore this is a great opportunity for us to recognise our loyal members online with such rewards.

Malaysia Airlines Rewards Customers for Flight Bookings on Facebook originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 6, 2012.

It took iPad users took nearly a year and a half to reach the 3 billion downloads mark; iPhone users took as long as two years before being able to reach that level. In comparison, Android tablets only have around 440 million downloads thus far.

According to the report, Android still trails greatly behind the iPad mainly because Android tablets in the market are still using older versions of OS, which disadvantages users from enjoying the better effects of apps produced from more advanced software development kits.

Additionally, Apple’s iPad apps are generally considered to be of a better quality compared to Android tablet-specific apps. In Quarter 3 2011 alone, there were 120,000 apps specifically developed for the iPad.

However, ABI Research expects an impending shift in future, as more manufacturers are adopting the more advanced Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, and their concerted efforts to narrow specifications gap between their tablets and the iPad.

3 Billion iPad Apps Downloads Leave Android In The Dust originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 6, 2012.

This new digital era is marked by an important new factor: user experience. Users have the ultimate say in steering the development of the industry so it is vitally important that they are equipped with the means with which to quickly and easily access mobile networks. This in turn drives current and future industry development, which will result in a flourishing information age.

In today’s world, millions of services and applications are close at hand, enabling a constant, 24-hour online digital life. While the underlying network infrastructure is at the heart of this ubiquitous connectivity, user experience is limited to a few points of interface. Since user experience and the demand for continuous service drives technological development, it is therefore of utmost importance to provide users with optimal experiences.

The following factors best illustrate what comprises an optimal user experience.

1. Speed that counts: Zero wait time redefines network speed

In telecommunications, increases in speed are often measured exponentially. Due to rapidly advancing technologies that have taken us from dial-up to fiber to the home (FTTH), it has taken a mere 20 years to increase bandwidth by 1,000 times. Despite this extraordinary pace of development, people are still clamoring for additional bandwidth.

Despite the current fixation on bandwidth, in the future, network speed will no longer be measured by the bandwidth a service needs, but determined instead by the wait time experienced by users waiting for networks to respond. Zero wait time for users is the new paradigm that will shape Internet development.

2. Quality that counts: Ensuring the availability of video and other media presentation forms powered by augmented reality technologies

The development of the Internet has witnessed the transformation of web content from mere text, images and sounds into high-definition videos and other next-generation forms of media presentation, such as 3D technologies, ultra high-definition technologies, and augmented reality technologies. These vivid media presentation forms will become more widely available and will increasingly be used across various applications such as e-commerce, social networking, and broadcast media.

3. Freedom that counts: Access the ubiquitous Internet easily and instantaneously

It took twenty years to bring the number of fixed Internet users to two billion, but only five years to bring the number of mobile Internet users to one billion, two times faster than the fixed Internet. Today people are enabled to be online anywhere and anytime because the mobile Internet sets users free from fixed lines as well as the popularization of the smart phones.

Similarly, à la carte services will continue to be provided on-demand, television programming in particular, since people will have the ability to watch programs at any time much more freely than they do today. Key to this provision of on-demand services is a freely available mobile Internet, which will enable users to easily access services and applications around the clock and in any location.

4. Simplicity that counts: Optimal ergonomic function

The history of man-machine interaction, during which the input method has transformed from keyboard and mouse to touchpad to motion sensing input, demonstrates a return from complicated input devices to intuitive and natural ones that tap into natural human function and form. In the future, even more natural ergonomics will further the user experience by leveraging people’s natural abilities like speaking, making gestures, and conveying emotions.

5. Sharing that counts: Community-like experiences elevate user experience

Google introduced mathematical logic to its search services, providing improved access to massive amounts of information. Google does this merely at the tool layer, while Facebook transcends the tool layer and deals with the social nature of humans. By emphasizing the social aspects of the Internet, Facebook addresses users’ emotional needs to some extent as well as satisfying their desire for sharing. The Facebook phenomenon indicates that a community-like experience will be a basic feature for both consumer-oriented services and enterprise-targeted applications.

The pursuit of a better user experience is a major driver in the further development of the telecom industry. A better user experience equates to higher speed, better quality, more freedom, greater simplicity, and easier sharing—in some ways, these factors reflect our fundamental human nature.

Although the concept of an information society has been bandied about for years, actual information-based development has just begun. The ongoing pursuit of better user experiences will continuously drive the transformation of information services. The development of telecom networks and technologies will also enter a new development phase. The combination of optimizing user experiences and network technologies will undoubtedly drive information services into stronger synergies and promote new applications and technologies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jeff Liu Jiangfeng is currently the Southern Pacific Region and Vice Present of Asia Pacific Region of Huawei. In this role, Mr. Jiangfeng Liu is responsible for telecommunication including marketing strategy, planning and operations as well as product promotion and sales of wireless, wire line and data communication networks in the Southern Pacific Region. Jiangfeng has persistently dedicated to implementing the customer-centric culture to achieve a sound and prosperous business development in the Asia Pacific Region, one of the fastest growing regions in the global scale.

Jiangfeng brings more than 15 years solid technical and management experience and expertise to the role and has held senior product and business development positions within Huawei since 2000. Originally joined the company in 1996, Mr. Jiangfeng Liu has contributed and witnessed the makeover of Huawei from a small local enterprise to a global giant.

User Experience as a Disruptive Force in Today’s Telecom Industry: Huawei originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 6, 2012.

According to the report, with the increasing market, thanks to the expanding number of smartphone users, many providers are introducing services, which includes to some degree, mobile VoIP.

The report quotes Amy Cravens, a senior analyst at In-Stat as saying: “While VoIP is a well-defined market, mobile VoIP is still in its infancy, with most offerings only being developed over the past several years, and because it’s in its nascent stage, there are significant opportunities for companies to develop the market.”

The main avenue for these providers to offer their mobile VoIP services is through the OS application store like iTunes and the Android Market.

The report also estimates that the revenues generated by mobile VoIP usage will increase to over $4 billion in 2015 and that LTE operators are not likely to have a significant impact on the mobile VoIP market until 2013.

Mobile VoIP Users Tripled in 2011 originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 5, 2012.

Those expecting the service to be free should not hold their collective breaths, though… the outlet operators are given the choice to provide Wi-Fi to their customers for free or for a reasonable fee.

In an interview with the NST, Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail acknowledged that Wi-Fi is in demand and that food outlet operators who offer it will be giving their customers value-added services.

The mayor also mentioned that the council is also currently studying the feasibility of  installing Wi-Fi facilities at public food courts.

Image credit

KL Eateries to be Wi-Fi Ready originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 4, 2012.

According to NRD director-general Datuk Jariah Mohd Said, the new MyKad adheres to international standards and does not easily damage, which would overcome the quality and durability issue raised by certain quarters.

She added that although it is not compulsory, the public are encouraged to change their MyKad to the new ones.

New MyKad security features curbs forgery originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 3, 2012.

The project, which will be to maintain PDRM’s Enhanced Mobile Management System (EMMS) and Mobile Card Acceptance Device (MCAD) will be spearheaded by TricubesNCR JV Sdn Bhd, which is 70% owned by Tricubes Berhad.

Tricubes, which was appointed as PDRM’s traffic fines collection agent last November expects the award ”to contribute positively to the earnings and net assets per share of the group from the financial year ending 31 March 2012 and is not expected to have any material effect on the gearing of the company”, as stated in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today.

The Malaysian Insider reveals that Tricubes has also approached the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the Road Transport Department (JPN) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to use its controversial myemail billing system and will begin pilot trials soon.

Myemail service provider Tricubes starts 2012 on the right footing originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 3, 2012.

However, its quarterly growth has been sliding steadily in 2011, from 17% in Quarter 1 to 8% in Quarter 4. In Quarter 4 2010, it was growing at 21%.

2010 was the year when Facebook went on hyper-drive growth on users acquisition front in Asia. However, 2011 was the year when Facebook downshifted a gear or two. The decline is expected to continue as many Asian nations are reaching saturation level.

Total Facebook users in Asia increased from 168 million on October 1 2011 to 181 million on December 31 2011, a quarterly growth rate of 8%.

Indonesia continues to be the top Asian country on Facebook with 42 million users. But India will dethrone Indonesia soon.

Facebook users in India has been growing by the double digits throughout 2011. On January 1 2011, India has 17 million Facebook users. By the end of the year, the country has 41 million users!

Other than India, eight other countries registered double digits growth throughout 2011, namely Thailand, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and Laos (see Table 3). However, only three countries are growing at rates higher in Quarter 4 compared to Quarter 3, namely Japan, South Korea and Mongolia. And South Korea registered the highest single quarter growth of 82% in Quarter 1 2011.

How accurate are these estimations? Read here.

Facebook in Asia: A Growth Story (2011) originally appeared on GreyReview.com on January 1, 2012.