Nokia asks British graduates to collaborate on augmented reality job search app

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia is asking British graduates on the Entrepreneur First start-up accelerator programme to improve its career services app, JobLens.

The Windows Phone 8 app was launched in the UK today as a tool to help jobseekers find roles in their local area and Nokia is now hoping that graduates on the Entrepreneur First accelerator will be able to hack in some improvements.

JobLens uses augmented reality to show the user where jobs are in relation to their current location. This means jobs in the area can be revealed on the user’s phone screen when the device is pointed in a particular direction. The app also displays information on the job role, the salary and the company.

Meanwhile, the app integrates with the user’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Windows Live profiles to learn what type of jobs the user might be looking for and find friends who may be able to introduce them to someone else in the company.

Jobseekers can also use the app to send their CV via SkyDrive to companies that have jobs they are interested in. If selected for an interview, the app can then direct the user to the right place using Nokia’s Here mapping service.

To announce the partnership, Nokia is holding an Innovation Day today at Google Campus in Tech City. At the event, 30 graduates that have recently completed Entrepreneur First's accelerator programme and formed 11 start-ups valued at £15m will discuss how JobLens can be adapted to meet the demands of UK jobseekers.

Nokia hopes that the members of the Cohort will come up with new businesses founded on the core design and architecture of JobLens. At the event, Nokia told Techworld that it would provide the Cohort with a variety of Nokia Lumia Windows 8 Phones in order to help the graduates build products on JobLens.

“We want to challenge these young minds to imagine how JobLens can be enhanced and refined to address UK unemployment, a challenge that unfortunately all too many countries are combating,” said Bryan Biniak, Nokia’s vice president and general manager of app development.

Matt Clifford, co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First, said: “Our partnership with Nokia will provide our participants with a new set of tools and relationships to build the next generation of disruptive start-ups.

“With youth unemployment and skill shortages such a critically important issue, it’s great to see Nokia tackle this head on by providing job seekers with an incredible new way to view and find jobs.”

Business minister Vince Cable supported the new partnership, saying he hoped it would "inspire even more young people to start their own business and encourage graduates to consider entrepreneurship as a career option".

He added that investment in small businesses was key to the UK’s economic recovery.

British Celebrities Cheer Andy Murray Wimbledon Win

LONDON -- Celebs, British or otherwise, cheered Scottish tennis star Andy Murray's triumph on Sunday at London's famous Wimbledon tournament. His three-set victory over Novak Djokovic meant the first British Wimbledon men's singles title since Fred Perry in 1936.

Among the tennis fans seen in the Wimbledon stands Sunday during the BBC's live coverage were Hollywood star Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler, who just like Murray is Scottish and was repeatedly shown cheering him on.

The Wimbledon men's final also attracted other high-profile Brits, including Victoria Beckham, soccer star Wayne Rooney and Prime Minister David Cameron.

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Talent manager and Idol franchise creator Simon Fuller, who manages Murray as head of XIX Entertainment, was also in the Wimbledon stands. Others took to Twitter following Murray's win.

"Oh my God. What a match, what a player. Inspiring a Nation. Andy Murray!! Ya Beauty," tweeted Ewan McGregor.

Author Salman Rushdie said: "Andy Murray, first Briton to win Wimbledon wearing shorts! (77 yrs ago Fred Perry wore long trousers.) Bravo Andy! Great shorts! And shots!"

Author and comedian Stephen Fry quipped: "So happy I did a little wee."

And Victoria Beckham ?tweeted: "Congratulations to @andy_murray and his family. Wonderful day at #wimbledon!! So proud to be British! X vb."

Even Hugh Grant chimed in. "A propos of nothing in particular, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that I'm Scottish," he tweeted.

Congratulations also came from fellow tennis stars. "Pretty sure @andy_murray might have to change his twitter name to @sirandymurray...Well played and deserved!" tweeted Andy Roddick.

Music star Cliff Richard and TV star/chef Gordon Ramsay had expressed hope before the match that Murray would win.

"It's hard to tell who is going to win, but my heart says please let him have it this time, because he is good enough to win it," Richard told ITV.

And Ramsay tweeted: "Good luck today @andy_murray. Fingers crossed. #wimbledon"

"I understand how much everyone wanted to see a British winner at Wimbledon, so I hope you enjoyed it," Murray told the BBC after his victory.

Several places in London, including bars and shopping centers, had shown the final on big screens for free. For example, hundreds of people were shown in TV reports following the game on a screen near Tower Bridge. And at Victoria's Cardinal Place shopping center, restaurants sold refreshments throughout the day and drew a crowd with the final, ITV reported.

In Wimbledon itself, large crowds were shown turning out on a scorching-hot day on the so-called Murray Mount to watch the action on a giant screen.

Security staff told supporters around midday that there was no space left on the mount but directed them to another screen that had been set up on court two, ITV reported.

British Film Institute Funding Cut by 10 Percent for 2015-2016

LONDON – The British Film Institute has fallen victim to a 10 percent cut in funding for 2015-16 as part of the British government's move to cut spending across all departments.

The funding cut was handed down by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The BFI has reacted with consternation and some surprise, noting the cut comes on the back of previous reductions amounting to 18 percent over the last two years.

In the last two years, the BFI also has absorbed the activities of the dissolved U.K. Film Council.

"As a national cultural body which is also the catalyst for the growth of the film industry, we are shocked that film has not been protected alongside the U.K.’s other national arts bodies and museums," the BFI said in a statement. "This is even more surprising given the Government and industry’s endorsement of the BFI’s five-year strategic plan for film, launched less than a year ago [October 2012]."

The BFI notes that the government secretary of state’s (Maria Miller) statement on the DCMS website recognizes the "huge contribution" made by the organizations she is protecting with a 5 percent cut.

"But her decision not to include the BFI fails to acknowledge film’s multibillion-pound [dollar] contribution to the economy, and instead puts film in the position of effectively subsidizing other arts organizations," the BFI said.

The BFI also argues that while the tax credit system in place for the movies, TV and gaming industries is to be applauded, there should be no reduction in investment in film support.

"This is extremely disappointing and worrying for the film sector and audiences at a point where it is clear to those in and out of government that film is playing an active and significant role in the U.K.’s economic recovery and is a vital contributor to our cultural life and international profile," the BFI said.

The movie organization said that because of the 10 percent cut in funding, it can no longer consider expanding its activities.

"We are in urgent discussions with the minister with a set of proposals to mitigate some of the impact of these cuts. If these proposals aren’t achievable then the BFI will have no choice but to stop valuable frontline activities and reduce support for partner organizations."

The DCMS letter says its budget will reduce by $94 million (£62 million) in real terms in 2015-16, a 7 percent reduction to the resource budget. In addition, there will be a 5 percent reduction to the core capital budget.

In real terms, the BFI is looking at a cut of approximately $3.8 million (£2.5 million) if using 2013 as a base year.

During 2013, the BFI's total resource cash allocation is projected to be $34.6 million (£22.8 million) from the soon-to-cut grant in aid only and including $1.5 million (£1 million) for its film academy and $6.1 million (£4 million) earmarked for Northern Ireland.

Study: British TV Dramas Gaining Traction Among Chinese Elite

China’s fiercely competitive streaming video sector has seen audience growth for an emerging content category that is attracting its most sophisticated local viewers: British TV dramas.

A new study from Beijing-based entertainment research firm Entgroup has revealed that China’s urban wealthy and well-educated are increasingly buzzing about Britain's lushly produced TV fare, including shows like Downton Abbey and Sherlock.

Comparing rates of discussion on Chinese social media sites, Entgroup found that British dramas now account for 9 percent of all mentions of foreign television programming, whereas just a few years ago such shows were essentially unknown in the country. Korean TV, by comparison, commands 28 percent of all social media discussion of international TV.

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But when Entgroup examined social media sites that draw an exclusive white collar and college educated userbase, discussion of British shows hit 13 percent, and Korean drama fell to just one percent.

The trend mirrors what Chinese television critics have taken to calling the “disdain chain,” in which British TV fans look down on fans of U.S. shows, American TV aficionados snub Korean soap fans, who themselves turn their noses up on people who simply like local Chinese TV.

“Though British drama viewers are a minority, they are high-end and very loyal,” said Jean Shao, spokeswoman of leading streaming video site Youku Tudou, told the Wall Street Journal. ”This is what the advertisers fancy.”

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Chinese video sites are tailoring their offerings to meet the demands of this rarified slice of the viewership -- and the luxury advertisers they attract. Sohu.com Inc. launched the first dedicated British drama channel in China last year, the Journal noted in its report. And Youku Tudou debuted a British TV feed in April, followed by Tencent Holdings in June.

The U.K.’s premiere TV producers, such as BBC Worldwide and Fremantle Media, are finding their content much in-demand, as China video sites vye for exclusive rights. According to the Journal, Tencent has the exclusive rights to 13 British shows with a total of 500 episodes, while Youku Tudou Inc is licensed to stream 32 shows, with 200 episodes.

“The storylines in British dramas are more complete and British actors are A-listers in terms of acting skill,” said Zhu Xiangyang, chief content officer of Youku Tudou. “The high quality of British dramas is what demanding audiences look for.”

Caroline Torrance, director, scripted at BBC Worldwide said: “Our drama has always done very well in China and continues to do so. Viewers seem to really gravitate towards the rich story-telling and high production values of our series. Sherlock has been a hit there as it has worldwide, and Mad Dogs and Parade’s End are other dramas that have sold there recently."

Added Torrance: "With high-end titles, such as Top of the Lake, Orphan Black and A Young Doctor’s Notebook coming through our slate, I would expect we will continue to see success with our programs in this market."

British intelligence tapping fiber-optic cables for massive amounts of data

More secret National Security Agency documents leaked by Edward Snowden to The Guardian suggest that the U.S. agency’s British counterpart intercepts petabytes worth of communication data daily from fiber-optic cables.

The operation codenamed “Tempora” by Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has been going on for at least 18 months and involves the use of “intercept probes” attached directly to transatlantic fiber-optic cables landing on British shores from telephone exchanges and Internet servers in North America.

Commercial companies, described in the documents only as “intercept partners,” were secretly used to attach the intercepts on behalf of the GCHQ. The companies, whose identities have been concealed in the documents, were apparently obliged by law to cooperate with the GCHQ and in some cases paid for their effort.

The intercepts have allowed GCHQ to scoop up and filter huge volumes of data, including email content, records of phone calls, Facebook entries and Internet browsing histories. “For the 2 billion users of the world wide web, Tempora represents a window on to their everyday lives, sucking up every form of communication from the fiber-optic cables that ring the world,” the Guardian noted.

As of May a year ago, 300 analysts from the GCHQ and 250 from the NSA had been assigned to sift through and analyze the data for terrorist threats and signs of other criminal activity.

Each set of analysts, however, was operating under different rules, with those at the NSA appearing to have more stringent guidelines about how they use the data.

Details of the GCHQ operation are likely to fuel new fears about the nature and scope of the data surveillance activities by the NSA. The concerns first surfaced when Snowden leaked two documents describing a couple of surveillance programs to the Guardian and the Washington Post. Since then, there have been several other disclosures pertaining to surveillance activities by the NSA and the FBI and the authority under which it is being done.

The Obama Administrationand U.S. intelligence agencies have insisted that everything is being done under proper authority and oversight. They have downplayed concerns about U.S. persons being illegally spied on and have maintained that the surveillance activities are crucial to national security.

Even so, the sheer scale of the efforts, at least as described by the documents that the Guardian claims to have obtained from Snowden, is sure to heighten calls for more transparency into the data collection programs.

According to the Guardian, the GHCQ has been expanding its data interception capabilities steadily over the past five years. As of last year, the agency was capable of handling 600 million telephone “events” a day and was able to process data from at least 46 of the more than 200, 10Gbps fiber-optic cables on which it placed intercepts.

The agency applies a series of filters to the data it intercepts to reduce the volumes. For instance, the first filter throws out all high-volume, low-value traffic such as peer-to-peer downloads, reducing traffic volumes by up to 30% right away, the paper noted.

Numerous other filters pull out information that is of specific interest to the NSA or GCHQ. The NSA uses a total of 31,000 specific search terms, including specific phone numbers, email addresses and other identifiers to keep an eye on communications being carried out by persons or entities of interest. The GCHQ uses about 40,000 such terms to filter the information it intercepts.

The technology allows GCHQ to store certain information of interest for up to three days and phone call metadata for up to 30 days. Such data interception and filtering has apparently allowed the agency to identify potential terrorist threats, child exploitation networks and cyber threats.