News written by Matti Robinson (July, 2015)

Twitter followers are a commodity that can be turned into cash. So it is understandable that the fight for followers is fierce.

A lot of the Twitter accounts that have a tremendous amount of followers are celebrities and media who naturally have that kind of following, but it is possible to create a following for yourself even without much of a presence in the real world.

One of the ways is to have snarky commentary and witty jokes. However, since it is really hard to come up with original jokes there has been a surge of tweet thieves. Twitter is now removing the tweets on copyright grounds, The Verge reports.

A tweet by @runolgarun (Olga Lexell) has been stolen and removed at least five times, noted Twitter user @PlagiarismBad. Lexell also has confirmed on Twitter that she in fact requested the removal of these stolen tweets. She says that they were tweeted by spam bots that had also stolen other jokes, and that the tweets were removed by Twitter without further questions.

China has had an peculiar ban on video game consoles for 15 years. Since last year it hasn't affected companies registered in he Shanghai Free Trade Zone anymore, but now it's finally time to end the ban altogether, WSJ reports.

The Ministry of Culture revealed earlier this week that the ban will lift from the whole country. That means that manufacturing and selling video game consoles is again allowed. This obviously opens up the game market in a huge way.

Companies including Sony and Microsoft are surely looking to commit into China more now. Sony told Wall Street Journal this was "great news" for the company.

In 2000 China decided on the video game console ban to prevent possible harmful influences to its youth. Presumably China has noticed there hasn't been proof of such effect in other countries.

Google has decided to offer once again freebies for Chromecast users. To celebrate the second birthday of Chromecast Google is offering free movies and music.

The offers featured on this website include 90 days of free music courtesy of Google Play as well as a free movie rental from the same service.

There's no hurry to redeem the freebies though, as the movie rental will be available to redeem until the end of the year and the music pass until the end of January 2016.

One problem you wouldn't think Apple has is money. Well, it seems that that's exactly one of the problems the company has. However, it is not lack thereof but instead the location.

Apple holds much of its cash overseas where it is not as convenient as it would be in the US. Tim Cook and company have to find out a way to use it or transfer it without paying a huge amount of US taxes, Bloomberg reports.

The cupertino tech giant has now almost 90 percent of its cash stored in offshore subsidiaries. That makes this a 200 billion – yes, billion – dollar problem.

These subsidiaries are not required to pay the 35 percent corporate tax rate of United States but it also means that Apple cannot use them for acquisitions – or much of anything really.

Obviously Apple is trying to lobby a tax reform for the corporate tax that is the highest in the industrialized world while some want the cash overseas to be taxes in the same fashion as in the US.

Google has released a new version of the YouTube mobile app. The app gets a facelift in form of new three new tab layout.

The update features three new tabs: Home, Subscriptions and Account. It is now available for Android devices and iOS will get it "soon".

Home tab is for exploring the content that is customized with user behavior and other factors calculated by the recommendation engine. Subscriptions shows your favorite channels and Account tab lets you browse your playlists, history, and your uploads.

The mobile app has now also been updated to support full screen vertical video.

The British government decided last year that CD and DVD ripping, amongst other format changes, are allowed as long as the copy is not redistributed and the original piece has been acquired legally. This isn't the case anymore as High Court reverts the decision.

The High Court took the case after music industry claimed it was illegal to copy material without a fair compensation. And indeed the court ruled that copies without proper payment to the right holders is illegal.

The music and movie industry rejoice but the result might hinder the job of some teachers and researchers. It is however highly unlikely that the ruling will be enforced upon the masses.

The government's view on the subject was that the backups of individuals do not create a significant financial deficit to the creators and therefore didn't need to be funded.

SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards have existed for decades and even though they are gradually getting smaller they are still around. Maybe not for long though if GSMA and the likes of Samsung and Apple have their way.

According to Financial Times Samsung and Apple are in talks with telecom representing GSM Association to launch a new kind of electronic SIM card. Even though nothing is written in stone yet, GSMA says that operators including Vodafone, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, and Orange are joining the world's two largest smartphone companies in supporting the eSIM.

The electronic SIM card would allow instant switching of operators without physically fiddling with the device. Apple tested the concept on its LTE equipped iPads but the support from the operatorss for the "Apple SIM" remained relatively weak.

The electronic SIM is said to possible enter the consumer markets as soon as 2016.

Microsoft has finalized the Windows 10 software and the Windows Insider Program members are now able to try out the commercial version.

The Verge reports that build 10240 is the final release which will be installed by the PC manufacturers on their first Windows 10 computers. The same version is the one that Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will be able to upgrade on July 29th – unless last minute fixes are released.

Microsoft doesn't want to call the version finished for obvious reasons. There might still be smaller bug fixes and other tweaks before the launch date. And even after that the operating system continues to evolve.

Apple has announced a new iPod Touch earlier this week. The company hasn't been updating the iPod portfolio since 2012 but now, after the release of Apple Music, the time was right.

The new iPod Touch features the same A8 processor from latest generation iPhones but the display is only four inches diagonally. The resolution is 1136 x 640.

There are two cameras aboard: 8 megapixel snapper in the back and a 1.2 megapixel FaceTime camera in the front. Fifth generation Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth 4.1 are supported. However, no GPS or NFC support.

You can choose between 16, 32, 64, or 128 gigabytes of storage and the prices are $199, $249, $299, and $399 respectively. Apple also refreshed iPod shuffle and iPod nano with new color options.

Nokia released a statement earlier this week addressing the rumors of a possible future smartphone. The Finnish company had earlier suggested that it would be interested in creating a smartphone but now the new press release makes it official – or more so.

Ever since Nokia sold the mobile phone business to Microsoft there has been chatter in the media about a possibility for Nokia to re-enter the market. After the unveiling of N1 (pictured), an Android tablet, Nokia as a company has been more involved in the discussion about a possible phone as well.

The statement comes conveniently just after Microsoft has told about layoffs that affect most harshlly towns in Finland. Microsoft, however, still holds the rights for Nokia name in smartphones.

At earliest Nokia could launch a new smartphone under that name in the last quarter of 2016. So there is more than enough time to find a licensing partner – after all Nokia doesn't own the manufacturing plants anymore.