South Sudan Blocks Mobile Phones in Civil War Conflict Zones:

The government of South Sudan has ordered the mobile network in the border state of Upper Nile to shut-down as fighting between government troops and rebels intensified.

The Presidential spokesperson, Ateny Wek Ateny told the Sudan Tribune that the shutdown was for security purposes.

"It was for security purposes. Anywhere in the world governments have the power to do this, if there is insecurity it can shut the network. You cannot leave the network up in a place where there are rebels. You have to cut the network where they are", he said.

The statement confirmed other reports that phone services in most of the Upper Nile region, with the exception of Renk and Paloch has been blocked.

The latest round of fighting comes as peace talks aimed at ending hostilities continue in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, so far without result.

Vodafone Talks Could Lead to UK Tie-Up with BSkyB:

UK based Vodafone and the satellite TV broadcaster, BSkyB are reported to have been holding talks about a possible joint-venture between the two companies.

BSkyB was recently considered to be a potential takeover target for Vodafone, but the latest talks are not thought to involve an outright purchase.

The two firms are said to be concerned about the surging expansion of the dominant landline operator, British Telecom (BT) into more media services, the core market for BSkyB, and a fresh move into mobile services.

Citing unnamed sources, the Sunday Times said that BSkyB and Vodafone have discussed striking deals on Sky's sports and movie channels and is collaborating on a high-speed broadband service with Vodafone's rival EE.

BSkyB has a sizable domestic broadband internet division in addition to its satellite TV broadcasts.

Vodafone could resell Sky services, offering quad-play options to its subscribers.

Intel Engineer Reimagines Earbuds for Smartphones:

When she literally jogged on-stage to join Intel CEO Brian Krzanich in his opening keynote at International CES in Las Vegas, engineer Indira Negi was there to demonstrate the Intel smart earbuds that she and her team had developed, but the "smart" design she showed off also helped solve an issue the avid runner had personally encountered.

"I am a runner - I get hives from the sun, I have to run with gloves on," said Negi about running with a smartphone. "That means when there is a bad song, I have to take out my phone, take off my gloves, unlock my phone and change the song."

Starting from solving a problem that she knew all too well, Negi, a sensors systems engineer in the Intel New Devices Group, and a team set out to create a device and software that would monitor heart rate and adjust music playback based on sensor feedback. The result was the Intel smart earbuds reference design, developed in collaboration with Valencell.

Negi's study of bioelectronics and biosensors in graduate school - she earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Arizona State - lent her a keen appreciation of the value of biometric monitoring.

One project she worked on while at ASU measured stress levels in saliva using specially treated paper. When you are working out, you are stressing your body in a positive way, explained Negi. If you work out too hard, this becomes negative stress, which can increase the chances of getting injured. She also worked on molecular imprinted polymers while at ASU coated with biochemical sensors that reacted only to specific molecules.

Leaked Photo Hints at New Samsung Home Page Layout:

A leaked photo of what is claimed to be the new design layout for Samsung's forthcoming Android overlay has been released.

Samsung adds its TouchWiz platform on top of the Android OS, and the latest updates, leaked by the @evleaks twitter account suggests that Samsung is being increasingly influenced by Google design concepts.

The home page appears, if the photo is correct, to be more of a tile-like layout, which owes more to Google Now than to Microsoft.

Google Now, an information portal, is already included in Samsung devices, but not prominently, and is likely to remain buried if Samsung starts pushing its own version at future smartphone users.

It's expected that the new home page user interface could appear on Samsung's Galaxy S5, which is due to go on sale by this May.

Pakistan Expects to Raise $2 Billion from Radio Spectrum Auction:

Pakistan's Finance Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has confirmed that the country intends to push ahead with its radio spectrum auction by this coming March. He made the announcement during a visit by Telenor's CEO, Jon Fredrik Baksaas.

The Finance Minister who also chairs the Spectrum Auction License Committee said that there is a lot of interest being shown by telecom sector in the auction of next generation spectrum license and assured that the process of auction would be smooth and transparent.

The Finance Minister said that though Pakistan expects to earn an estimated US$2 billion through the auction of three spectrum licenses, although they have only allowed for US$1.2 billion in the annual budget.

Telenor's CEO, Jon Fredick Baksaas said that Telenor views Pakistan as a developing economy with a great potential.

Expressing his interest in participating in the next generation spectrum license, Mr. Jon Fredrick Baksaas apprised the Finance Minister that the Group which has been working in Pakistan for nearly a decade has invested US$2.3 billion and contributed another half in shape of various taxes, besides providing employment to 3,800 persons directly and over 25,000 persons indirectly.

Baksaas added that Telenor sector plays a vital role in stimulating growth in the economy and the steps being taken to auction the next generation spectrum license would help Pakistan accelerate growth.

UK Tablet Market Expected to Shrink in 2014:

The UK's tablet market will shrink in 2014, with sales expected to decline from 17 million in 2013 to less than 14 million this year, according to CCS Insight.

The forecast follows two years of explosive growth, fuelled by the easy availability of tablets ranging from premium products to devices costing less than £50. More than 43% of the UK's population now owns a tablet, up from just 6% two years ago, and the number will almost double by 2017. In the next two years however, the market will take a breather from its massive peak, before returning to steeper growth in 2016. By 2017, CCS Insight is forecasting total tablet sales to reach 20 million in the UK.

"It's only natural that we will now see a cooling off in tablet sales for the next couple of years. The next big wave of growth will come in two years when consumers who bought their first tablets in 2012 and 2013 start replacing them. In the meantime we expect people to turn their attention to replacing that old PC and their smartphone." said Marina Koytcheva, director of forecasting at CCS Insight.

Koytcheva said: "Tablets have captured people's imagination in a way that even mobile phones didn't. In just four years, almost half the population of the UK has now got a tablet. It took 14 years for mobile phones to become that popular. Of course, the plunging prices have a lot to do with the success of tablets."

Motorola Cuts Cost of Wooden Smartphone Covers:

Motorola Mobility has slashed the cost of the wooden finish for the customised version of its Moto X smartphone, and also announced a wider range of wooden finishes to choose from.

The company used to charge a premium of US$100 per handset shipped with the wooden covers, but is now charging just US$25 for the customisation.

At the same time, they added Walnut, Teak and Ebony to the existing Bamboo finish.

Covering phones with wood decoration is not new -- one of the most popular fascia designs back in the old days of the early GSM phones was a plastic wood effect.