Mark Bridge writes:

"Harder, better, faster, stronger". Okay, so it's a lyric from Daft Punk (or Kanye West, if you prefer) but it might as well be the vague design brief for second-generation tablets.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has launched the company's iPad 2 tablet device at a press event today.

It has the same 9.7-inch screen size (and resolution) as the original iPad but is 33% thinner and is also lighter. The device includes Apple's new 1GHz dual-core A5 processor and two cameras, with a front-facing camera for 'FaceTime' video calls and a rear-facing camera for 720p HD video recording.

A new report from Juniper Research says music consumed on mobile handsets is expected to generate $5.5 billion (around £4.7 billion) annually in 2015. That's a rise of $3.1 billion from last year's total.

However, the report also warns that piracy still remains a significant threat, both online and on the mobile.

Samsung Electronics has announced the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 Smart Player, which offers most of the features of the Galaxy S smartphone without the mobile phone connection. It includes a 4-inch LCD display, a 1GHz processor, the Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ operating system and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, giving access to Google Mobile Services and the Android Market.

Although GSM and 3G calls aren’t possible, voice and video calling is available over WiFi.

Online music service Last.fm is introducing a subscription charge for listening to its 'Last.fm Radio' streaming music service on most UK mobile phones, including Android and iPhone devices.

Mobile scrobbling - automatically logging the music you play - will remain free, as will access to recommendations and forums.