The Guardian
Bjrk has released her Biophilia album-app for Android, two years after its release for Apple's iPad. The app costs GBP8.49 on the Google Play store, and like the iOS version contains 10 individual sections: one for each song on her Biophilia album, including mini-games, interactive art and music creation tools. Bjrk is releasing the Android version as part of her Biophilia Educational Program.
Gigaom
Google proposed a series of concessions in April to end a long-running European Commission inquiry into its business practices, but now it appears those concessions will not be enough. The concessions included guarantees that Google would display rivals' offerings in specialized search results, and that it would not punish those who "opt out" of its services by dropping them in the search ranking. Rivals, however, complained such measures did not go far enough, leading the EC to continue its inquiry.
The Drum
Tablet usage in the UK has tripled year-on-year, taking the total to 30% of the population, while smartphone usage has doubled to 62%, according to a Google study. The global report, aimed at better understanding people's increasingly multiscreen behaviours, revealed that most people in the 35 countries monitored use more than one connected device.
Press Gazette
Digital revenue for the Guardian and Observer publisher was said to be up 28.9% to GBP55.9 million and exceeded the decline in print revenue. Turnover for GNM rose slightly to GBP196.3 million (compared with GBP196.2 million reported last year) and operating losses fell to GBP30.9 million compared with GBP44.2 million in 2011/2012. This is the lowest level of loss for the Guardian and Observer titles since the year to April 2008. Turnover for GNM was GBP194.4 million in 2011/2012 excluding Kable which was sold in July 2012.
Press Gazette
Mail Online today announced plans for significant editorial expansion in the UK and US and revealed that it is preparing to open offices in other territories. The news comes after the site achieved its best ever month for traffic in May when, according to ABC, it reached an average of 8.2 million unique browsers per day and 128.6 million over the course of the month.
PaidContent.org
Author J. K. Rowling published a mystery, The Cuckoo's Calling, under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith" in April, and was outed by the Sunday Times of London over the weekend. Now that the secret's out, Cuckoo is shooting up bestseller lists. The book, which was published by Hachette's Little, Brown imprints in the U.S. and U.K., is now #1 on Amazon's Kindle list and #2 on the print book list; #1 on Barnes & Noble's print list and Nook ; and #1 in Apple's iBookstore. They're all selling it for $9.99, down from a digital list price of $12.99.
The Drum
The broadcaster launched the project, aimed at exploring people's increasingly multiplatform TV viewing habits, in February, along with an online media tool for media planners and buyers. Since then it has accrued 2,600 unique users to the tool, which is aimed at help boosting understanding of new media and technologies along with ad preferences.
Computer Business Review
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has mistakenly mentioned a parody account of Iain Duncan Smith in a tweet, which supported the introduction of the benefits cap. The message from Cameron's Twitter account read: "We're rolling out a cap on Benefits today - IDS_MP and I are determined to make work pay, and help the UK compete in the # Global Race." In response, the spoof account tweeted by saying: "Chin chin, Dave. Round mine for a Pimms later?"
Journalism.co.uk
The Associated Press (AP) has announced a new, expanded deal with video technology company LiveU to enhance the live video capabilities of the news agency. The new deal means AP will be able to use LiveU's mobile video technology for better coverage of live events, which it has already used to report from the hospital in Pretoria where Nelson Mandela is being treated.
The Guardian
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has pulled his solo songs and those with his group Atoms For Peace from music streaming service Spotify, complaining that "new artists get paid fuck all with this model". Yorke and producer Nigel Godrich took to Twitter to express their annoyance at the business model for new artists, and explain their reasoning.