As smartphone users wake up to the dangers of apps snaffling data they would rather not share, researchers at Microsoft have come up with a neat solution to the problem that could be used to bake a balance of content personalisation and privacy into its Windows Phone operating system.

Many of today's most popular smartphone apps reliant on harvesting information about users to deliver a personalised service, according to Ben Livshits of Microsoft Research. 

But unless users are aware of the extent of this information, they risk handing over more data than they bargained for, as app makers harvest user data and transmit it to their own datacentres.

A case in point is photo-sharing service Path, which caused a furore earlier this year after users realised the app had sent the contents of their address book back to the firm while Apple and Google where also caught up in the issue.

So Livshits and his colleague Drew Davidson of the University of Wisconsin developed MoRePriv.

It designed to be used with the Windows Phone system to build up a picture of the user, and defines the level of data sharing allowed on the phone according to a set of pre-established roles, such as technophile or business user.

“MoRePriv advocates leaving user data on the mobile device, under the control of the user,” they said.

This change in perspective means users retain control of their data and cloud providers will not fall foul of data protection or privacy laws.

MoRePriv analyses the use applications such as email, SMS and Facebook to establish a persona for the user – this persona is not intended to exactly match the user, but provides a means to establish rules for data sharing based on their profile.

“The use of personas limits the potential for user tracking: while persona information can be shared by apps to perform server-based personalisation, for instance, it is not enough to link the user across multiple interactions,” the researchers said.

The researchers then used Amazon's Mechanical Turk to establish how these different categories of user would have to sharing data in various circumstances before testing the system using a Windows Phone running the Mango version of the operating system.

They found that the system was able to reduce the permissions given to 73 per cent of apps that wanted some access to data, providing the user with greater privacy without crippling the apps that they want to use.

It remains to be seen if the tool could be extended to other systems, but it could be a key step on the road to providing device owners with more control over how their data is stored and secured, and kept away from organisations with unknown motives.

Microsoft has added a pair of features to the Bing search platform on Windows Phone.

In a posting to the Bing UK blog, the company said that it would be equipping the search platform with additional options for mobile users. The update will allow users additional options for scanning and viewing content on their handsets.

The Bing Vision add-on will add the option to scan in QR and bar codes as well as image recognition tools which will allow users to view sites and retail information by scanning images from DVD and CD covers. Additionally the tool will recognise book covers and data from the Microsoft Tags platform.

The company is also looking to expand its image recognition platform into the print media space. Set to launch in March, Bing Imaging for Newspapers will allow the handsets to take pictures of newspaper and magazine articles and then match the article with its online edition.

The reception of the Imaging for Newspapers platform will be watched closely by newspaper and magazine publishers who have seen their print readership plummet in recent years and have strugled to transition their business models into the digital space.

Five years ago today, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs stood on stage at the annual MacWorld event and unveiled a device that would transform the mobile phone market forever.

The device was, of course, the iPhone and it kicked the mobile phone industry into a whole new era, with the effects still being felt today as Google, Research in Motion, Microsoft and Nokia have all been forced to play catch-up in the battle for market share.

Jobs knew Apple was on to a winner when he launched the device, arguing it was far ahead of any other device on the market, which at the time meant unattractive, brick-like machines which lacked the sense of fun and style that were the iPhone's trademarks.

"[The] iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is five years ahead of any other mobile phone. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device - our fingers - and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse," he boasted.

Now, of course, Apple is under more pressure than ever from its rivals, particularly from Android-based handsets from manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, but the continued appetite shown for each new device the firm launches, most recently the iPhone 4S, shows it still has a cutting edge in the market.

The next 12 months are likely to be a key time for the market too after the sad passing of Jobs, with Apple expected to unveil the iPhone 5 at some point in the coming year.

A key figure in this development is likely to be the recently knighted Jony Ive, the head of industrial design at the firm and Jobs' "spiritual partner", whose job it is to produce the next wave of devices at Apple with a clear mission to maintain its status as the top-dog in the smartphone industry.

Certainly, if the firm can achieve the same level of success in the next five years with its iPhone devices as it did in the first five, Ive will have proved himself a worthy successor, with a little help from Tim Cook of course.

Many people were hoping that Apple would debut the iPhone 5 at last night's launch event, but instead were presented with a stop-gap product to keep the faithful happy until the firm's real next-generation handset is ready to ship.

The iPhone 4S adds a dual-core processor that should make the handset more responsive, and is available with a beefier 64GB of storage on the top-end model and a higher resolution 8-megapixel camera for good measure.

But the iPhone 4S is still basically an upgrade; a mid-life kicker for the iPhone 4 aimed at fending off the competition until Apple is ready to unveil the iPhone 5, which is now likely to be sometime early next year.

Likewise, the introduction of a new entry-level 8GB version of the iPhone 4 shows that Apple is starting to feel the heat from Android vendors, which have brought increasingly impressive budget smartphones to market at around the £99 mark in the UK.

Microsoft is also looking resurgent with the Mango update for Windows Phone 7, which has been drawing praise from reviewers and attracting a lot of interest from consumers.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 4S also debuts iOS 5, a new release of Apple's mobile platform that adds a number of new features, including Siri, described by Apple as an intelligent assistant that lets users ask queries using natural language and then attempts to provide an answer.

Apple is shrewdly making iOS 5 available as an update for existing iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS owners, another move that should help pacify those who might consider switching to another handset. However, the firm has cryptically stated that not all iOS 5 features may be available on all products.

Overall, the improvements brought in with the iPhone 4S will no doubt be welcome, but many Apple fans will probably still be disappointed that it isn't a completely new device, while the iPhone itself is starting to look less compelling against new handsets from rivals.

The mobile phone market is certainly not for the faint-hearted. There's a slew of legal tussles going on, firms battling it out for market share, and innovation and creativity leading the charge in the brave new world of mobile computing.

Microsoft is in the thick of it, the company's Windows Phone 7 platform still trying to gain traction as it touts new features in the Mango update and teams up with Nokia to boost market share.

However, there's clearly more to come from Microsoft, as a mysterious and tantalising job advert on the firm's site reveals.

"We are a team working on a top secret project inside the Windows Phone division. Our mission ... GO BIG! DISRUPT THE MARKET!" it reads.

Wow, capatilisation. It must be important. Perhaps it's for a tablet? Does 'GO BIG!' mean an increase in size, or an increased market share? What could disrupt the market, aside from another legal case? So many questions.

Details remain vague thereafter, but there's some wishy-washy stuff about what the role might entail, and then more outlandish claims on a scale that would make Microsoft's ebullient chief executive proud.

"In this role you would be on point to work with product planning, design, UX research and the feature team to glue pieces of feature together and build delighting user experiences," it adds.

"Come make our product sing to customers! It's a chance to see your work showcased by millions of customers for years to come!"

Those interested should get their applications in quick. A job ad this full of hyperbole is bound to be popular.

The announcement by O2 that it has started to use its 900MHz frequency holdings to deliver 3G services in London will be greeted enthusiastically by customers eager to see improved mobile internet speeds.

However, unless the device you're carrying around is equipped to access data over this frequency, you'll be stuck in the doldrums of sluggish internet connections for a little while yet.

Most major devices, though, will be able to benefit from the upgrade, with the iPhone 4, Google's Nexus S, the Samsung Galaxy S, and the HTC Wildfire, Desire and its Windows Phone 7 device, the Mozart, all 900MHz enabled.

This means owners of these products will be able to use the network to achieve better in-building coverage, increased capacity and connections up to 30 per cent faster, according to O2.

However, some notable devices will not be able to benefit from this improvement, with all previous models of the iPhone, the HTC Desire Z and the BlackBerry Bold 9000 just some of those left behind.

However, while some users of smartphones that are not able to use this new network may see this as a blow, Forrester principal analyst Ian Fogg pointed out that there were some beneficial side effects that should offset this disappointment.

"Non-900MHz 3G phones will benefit indirectly from O2's move because if other smartphones end up using the 900MHz spectrum this effectively frees up spectrum capacity for those 3G phones left behind on 2100MHz," he told V3.co.uk.

Tablet devices will also be able to benefit from the switchover, with both the iPad 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab able to access the 900MHz frequency, but the original iPad cannot – perhaps giving those considering an upgrade another justification.

So, for the majority on O2 in London it seems as if faster internet connections are around the corner, but if you're stuck on a device that doesn't support 900MHz frequencies, at least you can take solace from the fact the airwaves may be a bit quieter for the time being.

With the 2012 Olympics looming large on the horizon, Londoners can now download a free app for their smartphones which lets them send images and information to their local councils about any aesthetic problems in their neighbourhood such as graffiti or litter.

The app, called Love Clean London, was first trialled by Lewisham council, where it was invented, but is now available to use across the entire city for Apple, Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry smartphones.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, welcomed the app warmly as he looks to ensure the capital will be gleaming when the world's sports lovers and media descend in their droves for the 2012 Olympics.

"Eyesores such as litter, graffiti and fly-tipping are a real blight on our environment. It also costs boroughs millions to clear up the mess of a small number of irresponsible individuals," he said.

"Love Clean London gives people an easy way to report a discarded mattress or an outbreak of graffiti, helping their boroughs to direct finite resources where they are most needed."

The creation of such an app underlines the ways in which smartphone technology is changing the interaction between government by taking advantage of the age of instant information, be that images, text or GPS data.

Furthermore, the cost savings are impressive, with Lewisham claiming that reports sent through the app costs them £1.50 to handle, in comparison to a web-based report costing £4.10 and a verbal report by phone at a whopping £5.10.

We downloaded the application for a Windows Phone 7 device and found it easy to use and impressively detailed.

You can launch the camera within the application and rotate the photo once snapped in the app, and then add a list of data to the photo including a topic that covers the problem  from a detailed list preinstalled on the app such as 'Recycling' or 'Graffiti'.

You can also add detailed map data using Bing maps (or the equivalent for the relevant platform) and keep a record of the reports you have logged, so you can check to see if your report has been acted upon.

While it's easy to deride government IT at the central and local levels, initiatives like this that react smartly to the growing pervasiveness of smartphones in order to empower users and improve services while reducing costs, must be applauded.