Mr Perret said France Telecom had partnered with Baidu because the search firm had helped mobile networks in in its home market of China cope with a similar switch from basic mobiles to low-end smartphones.

BBC: Egypt phone

Before making the switch, PricewaterhouseCoopers encouraged its employees to follow some basic rules of etiquette, reminding them, for instance, not to leave uneaten food in someone else's office and urging them to replace office supplies they used.

WSJ: Warming Up to the Officeless Office

Moreover, as Britain's recently deregulated electricity, gas and telecoms companies have discovered, brand recognition or loyalty seems to be a dream in the utilities business: having been assured of a basic level and quality of service, most consumers buy on price alone, and switch allegiances frequently.

ECONOMIST: Marketing energy

It gives us basic capabilities for operating the rover on the surface, but we have planned all along to switch over after landing to a version of flight software that is really optimized for surface operations.

ENGADGET: NASA's Curiosity rover receives long-distance OTA update, 'brain transplant' on Mars