GBP hits high against USD
by Brian TurnerIf you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting!
The Great British Pound (GBP) has reached a 14-year high against the US dollar.
Early today £1 was worth $1.956, its highest level since Black Monday in 1992, when Britain leave the ERM (Eurpean Exchange Rate).
The rise in currency […]
November 29, 2006
Small business snubs VoIP
by kathryn
Small and medium businesses are interested in the new technology of VOIP, but not so much that their interest over comes the pains involved with getting into the market.
The lack of movement by the small business is not a good sign for the VOIP vendors. Small businesses are usually the first to jump on […]
Rollout of Westminster’s Wireless Connectivity Imminent
by Brian Turner
Rollout of wireless connectivity across Westminster is to begin by the end of 2006.
Work will start in Soho and the West End and it is expected that the whole City of Westminster, a total of 28 square kilometres, will be connected by the end of 2008.
Wireless connectivity will increase the efficiency of council […]
Intel Puts Un-ratified Standard in Centrino
by Jan Harris
Intel Corporation plans to include the IEEE 802.11n standard, which is not expected to be ratified before the first half of 2008, into its Centrino chips by next year.
Industry analysts have voiced concerns about plans to deploy high speed IEEE 802.11n devices before the standard is ratified.
It is believed that while a pre-standard version […]
Google to close Google Answers
by Brian Turner
Google Answers is to close down.
Google announced that although they would leave the existing site up as an archive, they would no longer be taking new questions for the service.
The project began more than four years ago, and started with four people administrating it. More than 800 staff would later be involved in the project.
Ironically, […]
November 27, 2006
Forum admins warned on new wave of spam
by Brian TurnerForum admins are today being warned of a new wave of spam coming to forums.
It comes after Russian hackers developed a script to auto submit spam posts to a wide range of forum software - and released it onto the open markets.
The script is able to post to forums even when email validation is required […]
November 22, 2006
DMOZ directory still broken after a month
by Brian Turner
The DMOZ directory is still suffering serious technical problems, a month after they first appeared.
The problem - attributed to a hardware issue - prevents DMOZ editors from being able to log in and edit entries.
The technical issues were first announced on October 25th - but nealy a month later, the original technical issues have not […]
O2 Rejects Mobile-phone Wi-Fi
by Jan Harris
Mobile operator O2 has decided to support GSM and 3G mobile technology, rather than Wi-Fi in its next generation of phones. At a London summit in November, O2 rejected Wi-Fi hotzones and WiMax.
Dave Williams, O2’s chief technology officer said “We’ve played with UMA and SIP, but they would require new phones”.
At the summit, […]
November 21, 2006
Social networks Digg false stories
by Brian Turner
Internet users were reminded to be wary of social news sites, after Digg posted a false story claiming that 650,000 Playstation 3’s had been recalled.
The story continued to be front-page news on the site, even after a slew of community members had flagged it as false.
Marketer Michael Gray has already commented that there is an […]
GOOG shares over $500
by Brian Turner
Shares in Google have topped over $500 each today, creating a market cap of over $154 billion.
This makes Google the world’s 22nd biggest company by market valuation.
However, Google has only a quarter of the revenues of the lowest earning company in the top 30 by comparison, and isn’t even in the top 60 companies for […]
Exterity bundles IPTV packages for hotels
by kathryn
The IPTV market is enjoying looking to get a boost from the hospitality industry.
One of the leading IPTV vendors, Exterity – whose products are targeting the education, corporate, and hospitality industries – has created a bundle specifically for the hotel industry and is set to launch.
Service providers have dominated the hospitality markets in the past, […]
November 20, 2006
CBS endorses YouTube
by Brian Turner
CBS’s chief research officer, David Poltrack, has said that he doesn’t want their content off YouTube - even if illegally uploaded.
The statement came in an address to the Future of Television Forum at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
According to the Advertising Adage report, David Poltrack said: “When you have something the public really […]
World’s First ‘Time-machine’ Satellite DMB phone Launched
by Jan Harris
LG Electronics has extended its mobile phone portfolio with the launch of the SB-120 - the world’s first ‘time-machine’ satellite DMB phone.
Worldwide handset sales are forecast to reach one billion a year by 2009 and advanced technology phones, which provide a wide range of functions, are expected to feature strongly in the global mobile market. […]
Dual Role Device MAC IP Core Launched
by Jan Harris
Wipro-NewLogic, the semiconductor design services provider has launched its Dual Role Device MAC Intellectual Property core based on the Certified Wireless USB specification from the USB-IF.
The product is one of the first MAC cores in the market based on the Certified Wireless USB specification.
The device can work in Limited Host mode, Device mode […]
Vista Release Promises Greater PC Security?
by Jan Harris
Microsoft is releasing its Vista operating system next week with the promise of major improvements in security for PC users. Vista is the first major upgrade to the Windows operating system in five years.
Vista will be available to major business users on 30 November 2006. From 30 January 2007 it will come pre-loaded […]
VoIP still illegal in India
by kathryn
Voice over Internet Protocol, the technology which allows a call from a PC to a landline at a cheaper rate than landline to landline, is still considered illegal in India.
The UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) denied reports that VOIP will be liberalized. There had been reports in the Press suggesting other wise.
The TRA’s official […]
IPTV slowly reaching Europe
by Brian Turner
IPTV is making its mark in Europe, while it is just getting off the ground in America.
European and Asian carriers have established enough of a consumer base that it is forecasted that subscriber numbers will reach 17 million by the year 2010, a figure considered conservative by some experts.
European phone companies are looking […]
November 18, 2006
Oil prices settle on recent lows
by Brian Turner
Oil prices appear to have settled to new lows after huge increases over the past 18 months.
WTI December contracts were 44 cents lower to $55.82 per barrel on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange
A $2.50 fall on Thursday was attributed to false rumours of increased inventories, but even though unfounded, traders seem unconcerned about […]
BSkyB grabs stake in ITV to battle Virgin NTL merger
by Brian Turner
BSkyB has bought a 17.9% share in ITV.
This could potentially cause problems for a proposed merger of ITV and NTL which was announced earlier in the week.
Richard Branson is currently the majority sharehold in NTL and had openly supported the merging of NTL with ITV, which could then open up new digital and internet TV […]
MySpace sued by Universal Vivendi
by Brian Turner
Universal Music has started legal proceedings against MySpace for alleged copyright infringement.
It comes only weeks after Google bought the online video service YouTube, and shows the increasing pressure that social networking sites are under over copyright issues.
Copyright violations have long been a potential problem for many social networking sites - YouTube has already been highlighted […]