Shipment to BRIC countries anticipated to surpass the overall shipments to developed markets by 2014. The global smart connected devices shipments, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones, are expected to surpass 1.7 billion units by 2014, according to a IDC's latest report. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker revealed that about one billion of the overall shipments will be shipped to emerging markets.

Global rise in mobility demand is expected to drive the number of Wi-Fi Hotspots to more than 6.3 million by late 2013, according to a new report from ABI research. In 2012, the global carrier Wi-Fi deployments reached 4.9 million, the report said. ABI Research research analyst, Khin Sandi Lynn, said: "Despite the successful adoption of 3G and 4G mobile data services, the number of Wi-Fi Hotspots has continued to proliferate and are anticipated to surpass 6.3 million by the end of 2013."

Self-published books accounted for more than 20% of crime, science fiction, romance and humour ebooks sold in the UK in 2012, according to newly released statistics. The figures, from Bowker Market Research, show that while self-published books made up a tiny proportion - 2% - of all books purchased last year, this figure increases dramatically, to 12%, when print books are removed from the equation.

The app automatically detects the owners location and forwards the current meteorological conditions, as well as offering a 5-day forecast and fine grain three-hourly forecasts for international locales over a 48 hour period. A raft of information pertaining to UV, pollen counts, wind speed and humidity will also be displayed within the app to ensure no-one need venture unprepared into the great outdoors.

UK Prime minister David Cameron has urged Google and other search engines to work harder to prevent child pornography saying that he is sickened by its proliferation. Cameron said: "Internet companies and search engines make their living by trawling and categorising the web. So I call on them to use their extraordinary technical abilities to do more to root out these disgusting images."

Acting editor John Witherow announced the potential job cuts but said that there would be "no great benefits at this stage" in merging with its sister title The Sunday Times. Such a move will be kept "under review". Witherow is reported by The Times as saying: "For several years now Times Newspapers has been losing money.

Facebook has comprehensively beaten Google+ to the title of best social network in Qubit's eighth Battle of the Sites. Following recent redesigns, thedrum.com enlisted the help of Qubit to discern which was the best social network in the eyes of regular users. The two networks were compared on three points, their profile, interaction and overall experience, to give both users and businesses considering social media marketing an idea of which - if any - was superior.

Edward Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA, was revealed Sunday as the source of the leak to The Guardian US over the US Government's mining of global data, having worked alongside the NSA for the last four years while acting as a contractor. The Twitter meme has begun in an attempt to protect Snowden by those who feel that their privacy and freedom have been undermined by the US Government's PRISM strategy.

BuzzFeed continues to signal its aspirations to be a major player in the news business. Two weeks after announcing a video partnership with CNN, the viral site said it has hired the Guardian's Moscow bureau chief, Miriam Elder, to be its Foreign Editor. "Foreign coverage is one of the last spheres where new media haven't competed aggressively with newspapers and television networks," said editor-in-chief Ben Smith, in a release issued Monday morning.

Based on the same model as the its science blog, ten writers from around the world are given free reign in the site to do as they please. "They're basically given the keys to the Guardian website," said the Guardian's science and environment news editor, James Randerson, speaking to Journalism.co.uk. "They're able to publish direct to the website without editorial involvement and they're not desked or subbed as such. They're sort of an arm's length team so we're in contact with them and suggesting topics but they can basically do their own thing."