Best links - week 6

Symbian Makes its Smartphone Software Open Source

Symbian, an operating system used in many smartphones, is now available as an open source platform four months ahead of schedule as it looks to compete with Apple and Google's Android, writes the Guardian.

YouTube Use Makes Up 10% of Mobile Data (via @rogeraberg)

According to analysis conducted by Allot Communications during the second half of 2009 shows that YouTube accounted for 1/10 of all data consumed on mobile platforms. The Register has the full story.

Axel Springer Adds Paywalls To Two Major Newspaper Sites

paidContent:UK reports that Axel Springer is putting up online paywalls for two of its German newspapers, the Berliner Morgenpost and the Hamburger Abendblatt.

iPad, Kindle Won't Be Newspapers' Saviors

In a recent interview by Forbes, incoming chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, Mark Contreras, says that "revenue from e-readers won't come close to replacing lost classified income".

Facebook Leads Rise in Mobile Web Use

According to the new The GSMA Mobile Media Metrics, more than 25% of UK's population (approximately 16 million people) accessed the Internet from mobile phones in December 2009. Facebook is clearly in the lead, with 5 million unique users against 4.5 million for all of Google's sites.

Apple Already Talking About Cutting Prices On The iPad

Apple will cut the price of the iPad if sales aren't as robust as anticipated, company execs CFO Peter Oppenheimer, VP Eddy Cue, and SVP Ron Johnson told Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope, writes the Business Insider.

Mergers, Buyouts of Media, Entertainment Firms Dip

Yahoo! News/Associated Press reports that the number of media and entertainment media and acquisitions deals fell by 49% in 2009, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It's Awesome (via @pelles)

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have conducted a study on the New York Times list of most-e-mailed articles. The results suggest that people prefer e-mailing articles with positive rather than negative themes, and they like to send long articles on intellectually challenging topics. NY Times has the article.

The Future of Reading

"A few months ago the most amazing thing happened: Unbidden, unpressured, and all by herself, my 12-year-old daughter subscribed to a magazine... Magazines, books, newspapers -- all that printed stuff is supposed to be dying... But here, surely, was some evidence that publishing might have a chance," writes Fortune Magazine's Josh Quittner. 

Social Media and Young Adults

Two Pew Internet Project surveys indicate a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. However, wireless connectivity continues to rise, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.

Why Brands are Becoming Media

"One of the greatest challenges I encounter today is not the willingness of a brand to engage, but its ability to create," writes new media guru Brian Solis on Mashable.com and continues:  "Once we introduce a social object, we must be ready to back it up with additional relevant content, and create a publishing calendar programmed specifically for each network on which we maintain a presence."

What Can Virtual Goods Teach Us About Paying for News?

No answers, but an interesting and relevant question by PBS Idea Lab's Chris O'Brien: "Why will people spend $1 to send you a virtual beer on Facebook, but not to read a news story online?"

MAGAZINE ABCs: Bravery Pays Off for New Launches Wired and Stylist (via @Rydergren)

New titles Wired UK and Stylist managed to put in an optimistic performance in the latest set of ABC circulation figures, reports Media Week.

Report: Edelman's Trust Barometer 2010 (via @jimcarlberg)

Edelman's yearly Trust Barometer survey results are out, writes Computer Weekly, with trust in business, governments and NGOs up, whilst trust in the media continues its three year decline. In addition, the results show a drop in trust in "people like me". "Perhaps because in a recession people become aware that their friends don't have better information than they do," suggests Edelman. Watch video summaries here.

Miscellaneous:

Announcing the Gowalla API (Gowalla blog)

10 Ways to a Geeky Girl's Heart (Wired, via @sandrina)

10 Ideas For The New Decade (Slideshare, via @ronnestam)

The 2009 U.S. Digital Year in Review (Comscore, via @Andreas_Wiss)

iPhone App Streams 'This American Life' on Demand (cnet)

Radiofy.se - Radio i Spotify (in Swedish, via @vassaeggen)