EDPS stalls on on data retention directive
by brian_turnerThe European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx, published his comments on the proposed European directive on data retention today. He is not fully convinced by the arguments for the directive, and sets out strict conditions any such law would have to meet for his office to find it acceptable.
If ratified the directive would [...]
September 23, 2005
Businesses flout software licences
by brian_turnerA survey by PC World Business found that 44 percent of Britain’s small and medium-sized businesses do not have a software licensing policy, leaving them open to legal and security problems.
PC World Business surveyed 750 IT managers of businesses with up to 500 employees. It found that 58 percent of small businesses do not [...]
Dixon’s launch FreeTalk
by brian_turnerDixons is launching FreeTalk next week – its budget Internet phone service.
FreeTalk is similar to a service offered by VoIP company Vonage, which offers unlimited calls to landlines in the UK and Ireland for £9.99 a month. Dixons service, however, is cheaper at £6.99 a month, or £79.99 for a year. A phone [...]
Dell and Oracle bundle at OpenWorld
by brian_turnerDell and Oracle are strengthening their relationship through a bundling agreement and a grid project. The alliance was announced at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco.
Dell will provide PowerEdge servers, installed with Oracle’s database, Real Application Clusters or Fusion Middleware. Customers will be offered the alternative option of JD Edwards applications or Oracle E-Business Suite. [...]
Bloggers advised on protections
by brian_turnerReporters Without Borders, the media watchdog, has released a handbook advising bloggers on how to protect themselves from recrimination and censors. It includes tips on how to set up a blog, publicise it and establish credibility. It also offers advice on writing blogs from countries with stringent media restrictions, including as Iran and China. The [...]
Office workers confused by IT words
by brian_turnerA survey by Computer People, the recruitment company, found that most office workers find computer jargon as difficult to understand as a foreign language. Three quarters of workers waste more than an hour a week deciphering technical terms such as jpeg, javascript and cookies.
Computer people, which questioned 1,500 workers, says effective technology professionals “understand [...]
September 22, 2005
Mobile TV trial launched
by brian_turnerO2 and Argiva have launched a UK trial of technology that enables television to be viewed on mobile phones. The trial, with 400 people in Oxford, will test the technology that enables mobiles to receive direct TV signals.
People taking part in the trial will receive sixteen channels, including BBC One and Two, ITV 1 [...]
Sony to cut staff worldwide
by brian_turnerElectronics company Sony is reducing staff headcount by 10,000 globally, as part of a restructuring programme. The job losses represent approximately 7% of the company’s workforce and will be completed by March 2008.
Approximately 40 percent of the jobs losses will be Japan, with the remaining 60 percent from its overseas operations. The company will [...]
Openreach: BT’s new network division
by brian_turnerBT has revealed details of its new network division – BT Openreach – which will provide equal access to its phone network. Openreach will employ 30,000 people including 25,000 engineers and will come into operation in January 2006.
When it is established, Openreach will have assets of approximately £8bn and revenues of over £4bn. In order [...]
Microsoft to build RSS into CRM
by brian_turnerMicrosoft is preparing to incorporate Really Simple Syndication (RSS), a popular XML technology used in blogs, in the next edition of its Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Microsoft is putting RSS into Office 12, enabling Outlook users to subscribe to feeds that are then fed into their email in-box. Outlook will allow users to [...]
Airlines to allow mobile phones on flights
by brian_turnerBritish Midland and TAP Air Portugal are planning to allow passengers to use their mobile phones while they are in the air.
Both airlines will use base-station technology developed by OnAir, which is backed by Airbus and is a rival to Boeing-backed Connexion. OnAir uses Siemens’ pico-cell base-stations together with software from TriaGnoSys.
The companies plan [...]
September 21, 2005
Akimbi claim server snap-shot software
by brian_turnerStart-up company Akimbi Systems, has revealed Slingshot – software that can take a snap shot of a server environment, store hardware and software configurations. It is claimed it can also automatically roll back the configurations to a pool of machines for testing with specific new applications.
The company claims that development costs can be reduced by [...]
Google Print project under fire for copyright violations
by brian_turnerThe Authors Guild, a US writers’ group, together with writers Herbert Mitgang, Betty Miles and Daniel Hoffman, is suing Internet search engine Google, over its plans to digitise major library book collections. The plaintiffs claim the plan infringes author copyright and have filed a lawsuit seeking damages, class action status and an injunction against further [...]
September 20, 2005
Vodaphone seeks acquisitions in Asia and France
by brian_turnerAt a meeting for investors and analysts, Vodafone said it is planning to expand through acquisitions in Asia Poland and France. It hopes to increase its near 20% stake in Poland’s Polkomtel and its 44% stake in France’s second-largest telecoms group SFR.
The group plans to continue to focus on turning around its struggling Japanese [...]
Symantec warn on security threat to VoIP
by brian_turnerAccording to the biannual Symantec Threat Report, malicious hackers are starting to target Voice over IP (Voip) systems. The report predicts that within 18 months, Voip will start to be used as a “significant” attack vector.
Callers can make significant cost savings by using Voip to make some of their calls via the net, instead [...]
Orange release SPV C550 for moile music
by brian_turnerTo mark its entry into the mobile music sector, Orange is launching a new smartphone – the SPV C550.
The device runs Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, but Windows Mobile 5.0 is expected to be shortly available in a smartphone. It has already made its PDA debut in the O2 XDA Exec and Orange plans [...]
LogicaCMG acquires Unilog
by brian_turnerLogicaCMG is acquiring French reseller Unilog for €930.3m(£630.6m) and will issue shares to pay for it.
Logica plans to buy 32.3% from “certain members of the management of Unilog and others for a total of €255.4m in cash and the issue of 19, 572, 703 new Consideration Shares.”
It hopes to acquire the remaining 67.7% by [...]
Microsoft extends Software Assurance
by brian_turnerMicrosoft has announced changes to its licensing and maintenance scheme for larger customers, known as Software Assurance.
From March 2006, the benefits offered by Software Assurance will be extended. In addition to automatic upgrades and spread payments, Desktop Deployment Services will offer help, consultants and planning for upgrades.
Customers will receive Windows Vista Enterprise, which provides [...]
40 countries sign for data protection
by brian_turnerProtection and Privacy Commissioners at the 27th International Conference of Data, passed a declaration calling for the United Nations to prepare a legally binding instrument, clearly setting out in detail, the rights to data protection and privacy as enforceable human rights.
The declaration was adopted at the conference in Montreux, last week, with support from 40 [...]
Opera browser now free without ads
by brian_turnerOpera Software has withdrawn advertising banners from the free version of its Opera browser software. The ad-free, full-featured version is available for download at www.opera.com
The free-browser was previously only available with an advertising banner. Users could have this removed for the payment of a licensing free, which also gave them premium support. Between [...]