Over the last few weeks Paul has been working his nuts off downloading app after app to his iPhone. Now after literally putting hundreds of apps through his handset he is now ready to name his top 50 iPhone apps of this year.

To make things easier he has split them into sections with four themed parts and an overall top ten.

Just click on the links below to check out the lists

1 Top ten apps of 2009

2 Top ten games apps

3 Top ten music apps

4 Top ten useful apps

5 Top ten entertainment apps
.

Imagine next time you put a search into Google and although you found lots of information from blogs and websites there was nothing at all from major newspapers like The Times, the Telegraph and The Sun?

Well that might well be a real scenario if Rupert Murdoch and Microsoft get their way, for as reported earlier the owners of the Bing search engine are attempting to woo publishers into an exclusive deal with the search engine which would leave Google out in the cold.

In theory it sounds like a winner. Microsoft, in Bing News, becomes the number one place for users to search for news, while media organisations get money from Microsoft for cataloguing their stories.

However before messrs Murdoch and Bullmer get carried away there are few things worth bearing in mind

1 It only works if most news organisations follow News International's lead and dump Google

2 However even if every media organisation in the world moves to Bing you can bet your last quid that the BBC will still be delivering an excellent and comprehensive selection of stories to Google, which will probably be enough for most Brits.

3 People might still use Google anyhow. After all it will increasingly be incorporating live searches from the likes of Twitter, so maybe searchers won't miss news and will stick with the search engine they love

4 Bing has a long way to catch up, According to Comscore, as quoted by Paid Content, Google has 87.5 percent of UK searches against Yahoo's 4.3 percent and Bing's mere 3.6 percent.

Anyhow what do you think? Would you move from Google to Bing to get the news? Tell us in the poll and in the comments sections.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) might sound like a fairly staid organisation. But the group, which pumps around £800 million a year into research and developments in the physical sciences, certainly boasts a few people with a sense of fun.

Exhibit A is one of its flagship projects for this year - a racing car made of vegetables that runs on chocolate. Created by boffins and students at the University of Warwick the car is designed to highlight how even the most carbon guzzling things can be greenified.

The Formula 3 racing car is capable of reaching top speeds of around 125MPH despite being composed of a medley of vegetables. The steering wheel is created from a polymer derived from carrots and the bodywork is a mixture of starch and flax fibre. Even the steering wheel lubricants are plant based.

Best of all is the fact that it runs using a biodiesel engine which runs on fuel extracted from chocolate and vegetable oil.

There's more information on the project and the organisation here.

Microsoft is apparently reaching out to top online publishers and trying to get them to agree an exclusive deal that their content is only indexed on Bing and not any other search engines.

The FT today comfirms this by saying

'Financial Times has learnt that Microsoft has also approached other big online publishers to persuade them to remove their sites from Google's search engine.'

So Microsoft has approached the FT then. The interesting part is which other companies Microsoft has approached. Even if it knows the FT isn't saying.

The move comes off the back of Rupert Murdoch's plans for Google to deindex all News International's online content. The agreement with Microsoft could mean that for the first time a search engine company has paid to index news stories.

For Microsoft it could give the company a much needed unique feature for its Bing search engine in that it could become a hub for news. The key for the company though is whether other publishers will follow News International.

If Microsoft pulls this off it could prove to be a very effective strategy, but it is likely to be a very expensive one too.

As Murdoch himself says

"If they were to pay everybody for everything they took, from every newspaper in the world and every magazine they wouldn't have any profits left," he said.

Dell's much talked about Mini 3i Google Android based smartphone finally breaks cover today, but don't pester your local Carphone Warehouse for one just yet. The handset will be available in China via the China Mobile network from the end of the month.

In some way it is not surprising that Dell is targeting china first. The smartphone market is less developed in China - for example the iPhone only launched there in a few months ago - and there is obviously a potentially huge market for the device. I guess we will see handset making their debut in China a lot more often as the years go by. Anyhow there's no confirmation of a European launch for the device.

Back to the handset, It has a 3.5" 640x360 widescreen display, GPS, Bluetooth and a 3.0 mega pixel camera,.

According to Dell's blog

The Mini 3i runs on China Mobile's flexible OPhone open source platform that can handle things like e-mail, messaging via IM, MMS and SMS, photo, video and music playback and more.

It will be available in either Red Passion and Oiled Bronze.

Here's the key specs

• Display: 3.5" 640x360 widescreen display
• Bands/Modes: Quadband GSM/EDGE
• Bluetooth
• Built-in GPS
• Camera: 3 megapixel camera with zoom, auto-focus, flash, video capture and photo-editing capabilities.
• Micro SD (up to 32GB)
• Connector: MiniUSB
• Dimensions: 58.35 x 122 x 11.7
• Weight: <105g grams

Not too long ago DAB radio seemed to have a glittering future. Championed by the BBC and backed by a slew of high profile manufacturers it seemed inevitable that DAB would be the radio format of the future. However in the last two years much has changed and DAB radio is now at an interesting crossroads.

Listening to the radio via the internet is becoming hugely popular thanks in part to the BBC iPlayer but also the growing availability of internet radios. There are also some doubts about DAB as a format after it was dealt a blow by several other European countries. Several radio stations have also pulled out of the DAB franchise now too it faces the challenge of satellite radio which is already huge in the US and has the backing of several major car manufacturers.

So should you still buy a Dab radio this Christmas?

Well the short answer is yes. It does seem incredible now that only three years ago the average price of a DAB radio was around £80. Fortunately prices have plummeted and now there's a good selection of models that are below £25.

It seems that the £20, and maybe even the £15 DAB radio is just weeks away.
Ultimately there is a question mark about the future of the format. But it will survive if the number of DAB radios installed in the UK reaches a critical point. At the moment around 15% of the population own one - ideally the govenrment would like that figure to be 50% by 2015 when it would like to switch off analogue transmissions.

Also even if some commercial broadcasters desert the format, it is very unlikely that the BBC will follow suit.

So expect to see the prices of DAB radios continue to fall in the coming months as the format seeks to ensure its future.

After developing clients for iPhone and Google Android phones, Spotify has today confirmed the arrival of a version of its service for Symbian phone owners.

Although Symbian doesn't grab as much attention as its rivals these days it remains the most used smartphone operating system in the world with a huge installed base. Most of those phones are Nokia handsets like its N series phones, though Samsung and Sony Ericsson both have Symbian handsets in their range.

The deal is similar to the Google/Apple ones in that Symbian phone owners can download the software and use it for free if they take out a premium subscription to the popular music streaming service.

Just like the iPhone and the Android phones the Symbian phones will cache playlists enabling users to hear their music when the phone is offline.

The announcement puts a further question mark over the future of Nokia's own music streaming service Comes With Music. The system has not caught the imagination of Nokia phone owners and several months after launch it was reported it had only attracted 23,000 subscribers.

Here are the handsets the service is compatible with

- Nokia 5230
- Nokia 5320 XpressMusic
- Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
- Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
- Nokia 6220 classic
- Nokia 6710 Navigator
- Nokia 6720 classic
- Nokia 6730 classic
- Nokia E51
- Nokia E52
- Nokia E63
- Nokia E66
- Nokia E71
- Nokia E75
- Nokia N78
- Nokia N85
- Nokia N86 8MP
- Nokia N95
- Nokia N95 8GB
- Nokia N96
- Nokia N97
- Samsung GT-I7110
- Samsung i8910 Omnia HD
- Sony Ericsson Satio

giffgaff, the new "people-powered" mobile network, is set to launch on 25th November.

In a novel approach to mobile network operating, users who go out of their way help promote the service will be rewarded with free calls, texts and mobile broadband. You scratch giffgaff's back and they will scratch yours, so to speak.

To help in this process, giffgaff users can hire "tools" to take out and use to introduce the world to the giffgaff brand. They are pretty wacky; radio controlled baseball shoes, a three-person "Cuddle Monster" suit for handing out hugs. Users upload videos making use of the crazy gear, and are then rewarded by becoming a V.I.G member (a Very Important Giffgaffer), eligible then for all the freebies.

There is even a cash reward of £5,000 for the best videos uploaded.

For more information, check out http://giffgaffnews.com/

Still walking around with your old wireless, bending a wire coat hanger around the aerial in a desperate bid to get a reception good enough to hear the shipping forecast? If so, give up you technophobe, head to a cash machine and grab yourself one of these budget DABs.

Click the image below to get started.

Google's Chrome OS asks just one simple question of its prospective users; do I really need a desktop space on my computer? According to Google, the answer to that question is no; you just need a feature rich web browser that can do everything that your desktop and applications can do, and do them much faster.

Google are of the belief that the majority of PC users do everything they need their PCs for within a web browser, or if they can't right now, they at least could with Chrome OS. Which is handy for them, as time on the web equates to money in the Google coffers.

First announced in July, more and more details of Google's OS are starting to trickle through. Here are the main points you need to know about Chrome OS:

Chrome is totally web based:

A user's time on the web gets the Google cash registers ringing, so it's no surprise that the OS encourages you to be connected to the internet. All applications are web based, with very little data stored locally on the PC, meaning that you can access anything you save from anywhere in the world via cloud storage. By being web based, Google hope to circumnavigate the hassle of managing and updating programs, with the OS handling all of this in the background.

Chrome should be super-secure:

Google's Chrome OS trusts no-one, not even its own applications. Every app runs within a "security sandbox", protecting you from malware and viruses. On top of this, each time you restart your computer, Chrome will check its code to hunt down any unwelcome guests, hopefully fixing any problems before the system has even booted up.

Chrome is fast. Really fast:

If you've used Google's Chrome web browser, you'll likely have been impressed with its speed. The Chrome OS wants you to be browsing the web within ten seconds of pushing your computer's "On" button. It's optimising every operation and removing all unnecessary processes to make this possible.

It's free to use:

Chrome won't cost you a penny, so it appears that the information they gather from your use with the OS will be very valuable to advertisers looking to target their campaigns with pinpoint accuracy. The OS will be open source for its users too, meaning anyone can have a go at tinkering with what's on offer.

It will be headed to netbooks first:

That may be the case, but Google's seven-year plan for the OS has them hoping to be a dominant force on desktops and laptops not long afterwards. Check out a demo of the Chrome OS here.

It's an ambitious project by Google. The desktop and local storage are pretty much synonymous with what many PC owners still understand as computing, and while Google are making brave steps to address the undeniable shift towards an increasingly online world, getting users to give up their familiar desktop may take some convincing.

While the Chrome OS looks set to be pretty well protected when it comes to PC security, perhaps its users should be more concerned with privacy. Certainly, Google have been instrumental in the growth of the web and in key innovations which have lead to its worldwide adoption. But there is the nagging doubt that with Chrome OS and the push to make everything web based, innovation is a cover for an attempt to harvest and monetise every last detail of the Chrome OS user.

Look at it this way. Being offered up completely for free, Google Chrome relies on the monetisation of every aspect of your daily PC usage. Hence the cloud storage; Google currently can't harvest information that is only stored locally on your PC, and so cloud storage ensures Google have access to every facet of information concerning your time in front of a PC screen. It would be completely naïve to view Google as some sort of online charity company, but the pervading feeling that Google are the "good guys" taking on the "money-hungry, evil" Microsoft is a stance that needs reassessing.

It's going a bit far to place an Orwellian, Big Brother-like mistrust in Google's motives. It's just that I'm a bit wary of booting up my netbook and finding a "WEB IS PEACE" mantra emblazoned all over it.

The latest political showdown on unfeasibly large parenting forum Mumsnet looks like delivering a points victory for Gordon Brown. Apparently David Cameron, who answered questions on a live web chat on the site today, was criticised by some posters as taking too long to answer. Brown apparently answered 30 questions in his hour on the site (could have been 31 if he'd taken the biscuit challenge) while the Tory leader managed just 16.

As the BBC reports here though - Cameron did have a few technical hitches.

The BBC also noted that Cameron said two very interesting things

He said that the BBC was "a vital part of broadcasting" it had also got "very overextended and the licence fee is high".

The Tories have been talking for a while about cut backs of radio and specialist TV services like BBC4, reduction in number of BBC staff and salary for its stars and crucially rolling back some of the beeb's Internet plans. Maybe he'll even make you pay to view the BBC news site (in addition to the licence fee) - Rupert Murdoch would love that.

He also admitted to being a fan of the BBC political comedy series The Thick Of It, writing: "V funny... but only true about the other lot (not)".

Logic3 today unveiled their new line of portable speakers, the iStationGo range.

The fold-away iStationGo speakers come in pink, blue, silver and black, with rounded edges that should make the speakers go easy on the lining of your bag. The speakers ship with a protective cloth carry case and four AAA batteries.

Thanks to a 3.5mm headphone jack, the iStationGo speakers will be compatible with a whole range of MP3 players and mobile phones. The four included AAA batteries will power the speakers for 15 hours, a pretty reasonable amount of time for portable speakers. The speakers also feature a cradle to place the iPod Touch, iPod Nano and iPhone either vertically or horizontally which should be useful for movie lovers.

The iStationGo speakers cost £19.99 and are available here directly from Logic3.

Well, it all comes down to this. The top 10 iPhone apps of 2009. Over the last couple of weeks we've been giving you our top 10 in various categories, now it's time for the ultimate top 10.

Maybe you thought we missed an app. Maybe you thought wrong buddy, maybe we were saving it for our overall top 10. Maybe we did miss one. I doubt it though. If we did though, let us know, we'd hate to be missing out on something.

So anyway, enough chit-chat. Here it is...The Tech Digest top 10 apps for 2009.

Click pic below to reveal our top 10.

Comparison site Broadband Expert has revealed figures showing that mobile Pay as You Go broadband sales have overtaken traditional contract deals for the first time.

53% of mobile broadband customers now opt for Pay as You Go deals compared to 47% who take contract deals.

The trend is set to continue, according to Rob Webber, Broadband Expert's commercial director: "We've seen Pay as You Go sales rise sharply since the end
of 2008 as customers realise that they only need to pay for the broadband
they use and don't need to enter into a lengthy contract."

He continued, "We expect that this trend will continue over the Christmas period when Pay as You Go mobile broadband and phones typically perform well compared to contract mobile services. Prepaid mobile broadband makes an ideal gift -
especially for the types of people who may not be able to get credit such as
the under 18's or the very old."

If you've ever suffered the crushing heartbreak of being cast asunder by an online pal, you're probably pretty familiar with the term "unfriend".

Well, it look as though even the internet-phobic are set to become accustomed to the phrase, as "unfriend" enters next year's edition of the New Oxford American dictionary.

The term, which originated on social-networking sites such as Facebook beat "sexting", "intexticated", "netbook", "funemployed", "hashtag", "paywall" and "greenstate" for the title of Word of the Year.

According to a senior lexicographer, the term has (we kid you not) "lex appeal"...

Via: Silicon Republic

Myspace have acquired music streaming service Imeem for an undisclosed sum that industry experts estimate is a figure in the region of $8 million.

The service pioneered ad-based music streaming, but the $8 million sum will not go far towards covering the $30 million dollar investment the company initially received.

As a result, up to half of Imeem's workforce now faces unemployment.

The Imeem buyout follows Myspace's acquisition of iLike, another troubled music streaming website. Both iLike and Imeem could not support licensing costs from the major labels on ad-based revenue alone, despite Imeem receiving heavily subsidised licenses from all four majors.

Myspace itself has fallen on hard times, recently conceeding defeat in the social-networking race to Facebook. How it plans on incorporating Imeem and iLike into its Myspace Music service, which the company now claim is its main focus, could decide whether Myspace sinks or swims.

Via: CNet

Business-orientated social-networking site LinkedIn has today announced its new partnership with Microsoft.

Coming hot on the heels of their partnership with Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft aim to join forces on Outlook 2010. The planned integration of LinkedIn will see Outlook 2010 users able to maintain their professional network through the program, keeping up to date with all the latest developments and activities via Outlook Social connector.

The business network currently has 50 million users worldwide.

It's an important move for LinkedIn, with integration to a native Windows program offering huge exposure to the network.

To find out more, check http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/11/18/linkedin-microsoft-outlook/

The PlayStation Network Delivery service goes live across Europe today, offering over 800 movies to rent or buy to PS3 and PSP owners.

Films ready to be downloaded at launch include Star Trek, Watchmen, Bruno, Angels and Demons and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Rentals will cost from £2.49, giving a user 14 days to watch the movie, but only 48 hours to finish the film once play has started. Buying a movie will cost from £6.99, allowing the movie to be used on up to five PS3 or PSP consoles, though not simultaneously on each. Movies cannot be transferred to a PC for viewing due to piracy restrictions. And movies cannot be transferred to an Xbox 360, for obvious reasons.

1080p high-def movies are also available to rent or buy, for a small bump-up in price.

As a limited launch offer, new PSN users will receive a free copy of the first Transformers, while returning PSN customers who buy Angels and Demons will receive a complimentary copy of The Da Vinci Code.

Sony are aiming to have as many as 50 new title available each week, so if your favourite flicks aren't up on the PSN yet, check back soon and you might be pleasantly surprised.

If you want to get your kids web-aware at an early age, why not introduce them to the KidZui web browser?

KidZui are launching version 5.0 of their browser today, which is set to help parents and children share and discover new experiences through the Internet.

Children can send KidZui approved content to friends and parents with the browser's new "KidConnect" functions. KidZui have trawled the web to find over 2 million websites, games, photographs and videos suitable for children, jointly approved by parents and teachers who already use the service.

ZuiTube has also recently been launched, acting like a kid-friendly YouTube lite.

Parents will also be able to connect with one another through in-built Facebook support, as well as receive weekly emails reporting on their children's web habits.

For more information, visit http://www.kidzui.com/

Sony Ericsson will be shutting down four facilities, resulting in the loss of as many as 2,000 jobs, it has been revealed today.

The large Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and smaller sites in Miami, Kista and Chennai are the facilities under threat.

Those whose jobs are to be axed are yet to be announced, though severance packages will be offered to those who qualify. There is no word on whether the remaining employees will be relocated to facilities in Atlanta or Redwood Shores, California.

Sony Ericsson have been flailing since the smartphone race really took off, with their first Android device shipping way behind the pack at some point in 2010.