Blackberry Launch BB10

At a press launch streamed at locations around the world Blackberry (formally RIM, that's another story) released their new smartphone device, the Blackberry 10. It's offered in two forms; a touchscreen version and a traditional version with a qwerty keyboard.

The touchscreen version, called the Z10, features a 4.2" screen. The device itself looks good and looks to be of good quality.

The big 'wow' though is the OS - It looks brilliant. Something called Blackberry 'Flow' allows users to access the 'hub' where all social network and BBM notifications are without ever leaving the app their in. It look slick.

Blackberry Messenger (BBM) has also got a massive boost. It now offers video calling and voice calling, both free over Wi-Fi and a new screen sharing option that looks fantastic.

The UK will be the first country to get the Z10 as it launches tomorrow (31st January) on a number of carriers.

More details soon as more is released.

Worlds First 1TB Flash Drive

Kingston have released the worlds first 1TB USB Flash Drive at CES.

Long gone are the days of having a pile of USB sticks and worrying if you can fit everything on them.

The DataTraveler HyperX Predator (cool name) is currently available in 512GB with the 1TB 'coming soon'.

The 512GB costs a whopping £710 so the 1TB is likely to be a bit expensive.

Has 'iPad' become a generic trademark?

A generic trademark, also known as a proprietary eponym, is when a brand name becomes the word used for all products of that type. The best example being Hoover. Hoover is a brand of vacuum cleaner yet the majority of people call all vacuum cleaners Hoovers.

It's extremely difficult and probably impossible to actually define the moment a brand becomes generic as it tends to happen over quite a long period of time.

In general company's do everything they possibly can to stop their brands becoming generic, after all, why would Hoover want people calling a Dyson a Hoover? Google actively discourages the media from using the term 'googling' in an attempt to stop the trademark becoming generic.

In severe cases the original company can lose all IP Trademark rights meaning any company can then use their brand name. An example is the 'Philips head screw' which was originally a trademark that Henry Philips owned. Now any company can use the term 'Philips head screw'.

There are a number of demographics that seem to use the word 'iPad' for all tablets, in particular older people and those less technologically minded.

In work they've recently installed tablets at the the till points. I'm not entirely sure what brand they are but they're certainly not iPads. Despite this my (elderly-ish) boss calls them iPads, customers comment on them saying 'Cool, you're using iPads'. For Christmas my four year old, severely spoilt nephew had a 'Child Pad'. Nearly every member of my family, including my nephew, call it an iPad despite me telling them 'IT'S NOT AN IPAD!'.

So I don't think 'iPad' is a generic trademark just yet but I'm convinced that it soon will be unless Apple and other brands like Amazon and Google do something about it.

Do you know anybody that says 'iPad' for all tablets or do you know any other interesting generic trademarks? Comment below.

4G Bidders Announced

Ofcom have released the names of the seven companies that will be bidding for the 4G spectrum in the UK, the companies are Three, O2, Vodafone, EE, HKT, MLL, and BT. Bidding will take place in the new year with services expected to start in the spring.

Instagram Isn't Going To Sell Your Photos

Early on Tuesday Instagram updated it's Terms of Service, nothing unusual really until people noticed a new item that stated:

To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.

This caused uproar with users with many taking to Twitter to vent their anger. Most were insisting they would be deleting their accounts before the 16th January deadline (although lets face it, nobody will actually do this).

But lets take a proper look at this new Term of Service. What does it really mean?

Well a term similar to this has always been in Instagram's Terms of Service, they've always been able to use our content in pretty much any way they want to.

What this new term most certainly does not mean is that Instagram can sell your photos to other companies or people. What is does mean is that companies can use your content in paid advertisements on Instagram and Facebook in exactly the same way they do now on Facebook.

For example, an advert might say "Look at these awesome pictures of our shop, taken by person x" or in the same style as sponsored stories on Facebook an advert might say "Person x follows us, you should too".

In no way will Instagram be selling your content to random people. In no way are your pictures going to be appearing in newspaper adverts or on billboards.

Instagram certainly messed up here, not by having this term of service but by not explaining exactly what it means.

Update: Instagram today released a new blog post where they reiterated the fact that they're not going to be selling your photos. Here's what they said:

it was interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos.

Let’s say a business wanted to promote their account to gain more followers and Instagram was able to feature them in some way. In order to help make a more relevant and useful promotion, it would be helpful to see which of the people you follow also follow this business. In this way, some of the data you produce — like the actions you take (eg, following the account) and your profile photo — might show up if you are following this business.