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USI MID-160: Worlds thinnest MID complete with Intel Atom processor

USI is to launch the world’s thinnest Mobile Internet Device (MID), called USI MID-160. The new device will be based on the Intel Atom processor; this shows how great USI are at developing miniature technology. Read more

ISPs could lose out to Mobile Broadband

It looks as though ISPs could end up losing out if the popularity with Mobile Broadband continues to increase. More people are now taking up new contracts with mobile phone companies so that they can get broadband speeds on the move.

Mobile broadband is much easier to get now thanks to the new dongle that just plugs into a USB port. Mobile phone companies have also dropped their prices that they charge each month, this could also be another nail in the coffin of ISPs.

YouGov have conducted a survey and they say that Mobile Broadband could actually pose a serious threat to traditional internet service providers.

The research team from YouGov has found that one in eight broadband users have either replaced their fixed broadband line with ISPs or have chosen a mobile broadband service in preference to a fixed ISP service.

Read the full report over at Pocket Lint

Women fined £16,000 for File-Sharing: Floodgates open

A woman has been fined £16,000 in a File-Sharing court battle. She is one of the first people to be fined in the UK by a computer game manufacturer who are seeking to protect their copyright.

This fine could now open the floodgates for those who illegally share games and films over the Internet. Music, film and games companies could now claim back millions in damages as a result of this successful court battle.

The Patents County Court in London has now ordered the woman to pay around £6,000 in damages and disbursements of £10,000 to Topware Interactive. They are the owner of the computer game Dream Pinball 3D.

Topware Interactive has launched civil proceeding against 100 other people who are suspected of illegally uploading copyrighted games. The High Court has now ordered Internet service providers to hand over details of their customers who they suspect of file sharing.

Just last month hundreds of thousands of letters were sent out to those Internet users who illegally download files. This is part of a new deal that was brokered with the Government and the six top ISPs in the UK.

For a full report visit The Times

Radiopaq Takes Internet Radio from Computer Screen to Comfy Chair

Radiopaq, the innovative brand that brings you thousands of internet radio stations and podcasts from across the globe via Radiopaq.com, today announces the hardware that will pave the way for the future of digital radio. The Radiopaq Rp5 gives you the freedom to enjoy internet radio without having to sit in front of your computer, alongside your favourite analogue and digital stations - and, most importantly, the sound quality is fantastic Read more

Will the Internet break-down due to strain of Olympics?

We like this one that you are about to read, CNET has reported about a test that could prove something. They are basically reporting the latest to find out of the Internet can or indeed will break down under the immense strain of mass consumption of streaming video, and yes we are talking about the Olympics.

This is an opinion set by Brick Eksten who is the president and CEO of Digital Rapids, he says:

“We’re going to find out whether the Internet is going to melt under the weight of video in a couple days,’’ he told Between The Lines this morning.

Based in Markham, Ontario, Eksten’s company is providing encoding, streaming and management systems to provide live streaming of the 2008 Olympic Games to Internet audiences in China, working for CCTV; you can see where we are going with this. NBC has plans on streaming 2,200 hours of live competition in 25 sports.

Read the full story here.

So basically with all this heavy streaming to do with the Olympics, will the Internet break down?

Black Hat security conference highlights DNS Flaw

It seems as though 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have had to patch their networks, this fix was a direct result of a security flaw. The flaw allowed cyber criminals to redirect visitors to counterfeit or malicious Web sites. This patch still leaves Internet users vulnerable to a large number of infrastructure providers who have yet to fix this security risk.

This data has been highlighted at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, it was Dan Kaminsky, the Seattle based IOActive researcher who first discovered the risk. Kaminsky said that bad guys would be able to corrupt records that they could find in the domain name system (DNS). They will then be able to fill them in with inaccurate information.

It was on July 8 that a number of companies that included Microsoft, Cisco, Sun Microsystems along with a dozen others had to ship software updates to fix this fault in the DNS design.

DNS is the communication standard, it acts as what could only be described as a phonebook for the Internet.

Kaminsky said that while some 120 million which is about 42 percent of broadband users are now protected by this patch, just half of the DNS servers are now protected by this patch. In his time on the floor at the Black Hat conference Kaminsky described the many ways that a bad guy was able to steal your personal and financial data from the Internet.

For a full report on this visit: The Washington Post

Time Warner to separate AOL service following drop in profits

Time Warner Inc. has announced that they will be running AOL’s access and audience businesses separately from next year; the main reason for this is a drop in their profits. When Warner has managed to get the units operating separately from each other, then they will be able to work out if the cash flow is better.

Once the access is a stand alone, Time Warner will then have the flexibility to spin the business around or even sell it if it comes to it. Time Warner said that second quarter net income had fallen by 26 percent from their AOL and publishing units.

During the second quarter AOL’s shares fell to $1.1 billion, most of that loss has been from the loss of dial-up subscribers. This is a direct result of AOL trying to make the transition from an Internet-access provider to a business primarily driven by advertising revenue from AOL.com.

The growth in advertising in the second quarter for AOL saw a 1 percent increase from the first quarter. To give you an idea at just how bad this is, Ad growth in the fourth quarter of 2007 was 10 percent, it was 13 percent in the third quarter of 2007. So there is a pattern that things have been falling for some time.

For a detailed report on this visit Market Watch

Sprint Nextel sees drop in earnings as subscribers leave

Sprint Nextel Corp. has reported a decline in earnings in the second quarter, a result from the 901,000 wireless subscribers who have left the company. This news did not take long to have a reaction in Wall Street, as shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. fell by 79 cents.

Shares started on Wednesday at $7.76, as of noon they were at $7.71. Before the market had opened on Wednesday, the wireless carrier had reported revenue of $9.06 billion for the second quarter. This is down 10.9 percent from $10.2 billion in 2007.

Sprint has said that their customers for the second quarter are 51.9 million, that’s down 3.9 percent on last year figure of 54 million.

It seems that Sprints CEO Dan Hesse has taken a positive view on this; he said “We are seeing signs of progress from our efforts to improve the customer experience, rebuild the Sprint brand and increase our profitability.”

It is thought by many that Sprint Nextel subscribers will fall even more in the third quarter of 2008.

Source

ISPs and government clamp down on illegal downloading

Internet service providers have been working hard and have now worked out a deal with the government, as well as the music industry so that they can clamp down on illegal downloading.

The new deal that will be announced some time today will include a deal with UK ISPs, which means that they will send out hundreds of thousands of letters to their customers who are responsible for illegal downloading.

The BPI, the body that represents record labels, and the government have struck a memorandum of understanding, this will see the introduction of a legislation to a clampdown on people who download illegally.

The new understanding will see a deal struck with the six biggest IPSs in the UK, these include BT, Virgin, Carphone Warehouse, Orange, Tiscali and BSkyB. The deal will include all the parties to work together to come up with ways to stop repeat offenders.

It is about time that ISPs took a tough stance on this, they have failed to take action for so long. It is now time for a reform, so illegally downloader’s beware.

Source

Microsoft distributes security patch to fix Internet addressing system

Microsoft and other big companies are distributing a security patch that fixes an Internet addressing system problem that was found by accident.

This was a major security glitch and it would of allowed criminals to redirect a user to another webpage and that’s even if you entered in the correct URL, this issue was unprecedented and should not cause panic but web users should be concerned.

Could you imagine the problems that could have been caused if you entered the address for your normal online banking website and was redirect to another site that looked the same. This could be done easy by using the Domain Name System (DNS) to redirect you there.

You will now want to make sure you get this patch; we have heard it will be spread through automated updates on personal computers.

The problem was originally found over 6 months ago and Mr. Kaminsky (who found the problem) has been in secret research with computer giants such as Cisco, Sun and Microsoft to fix this problem.

Technical details have not been made public, this is to give people a chance to update their computers before any hackers try and break the patch.

The question I have is, did anyone find this loophole before and have they been using it for some time? Lets hope that’s not the case.

Source: Read

Internet Future: complete overhaul of the way people navigate

For years now the Internet has remained the same, but things could face a complete overall of how we navigate our way on the Internet after a crucial vote in Paris. The regulators of the Internet will vote to decide if the strict rules on top level domains can be relaxed, these include .com or .uk. If the vote is approved, then firms will be able to turn brands into web addresses, also individuals will be able to grab a unique domain which is based on their name.

Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of Icann, has said to BBC News “We are making it open for anyone to apply in any character set, not just Roman characters.” This mean that under the new plan names written in Asian and Arabic languages would also be allowed. If this proposal was to go ahead then Twomey believes that this would be the biggest change in how the Internet works in decades.

Twomey went on to say “The impact of this will be different in different parts of the world. But it will allow groups, communities and business to express their identities online.” he also added Like the United States in the 19th Century, we are in the process of opening up new real estate, new land, and people will go out and claim parts of that land and use it for various reasons they have.”

Over the past few years Icann has been working hard to try and open up net addresses. Right now top level domains are only limited to individual countries, so if you live in the UK it will be an .uk, and if you live in Italy it will be an .it. Some companies do try and get around theses restriction, which means that they have to use the currant system to their own ends.

An example of this is from the Polynesia island nation Tuvalu; they have leased their .tv address to a number of television companies. So if these new plans do come of, then we could see a huge increase in the number of domains being registered. This means that any sting of letters could be registered as a domain under the new plans; however an independent arbitration process will be in place if people wish to object.

For a full video report on this just head over to BBC News

Surfing Costs Business £10.6bn a Year

The average office worker in the UK spends an hour and a half a week of work time surfing the web for personal use, according to research by the CBI.

The findings showed that this is costing the economy £10.6bn a year and while many organisations are supportive of staff visiting non-work related websites, and view it as a motivational perk or a modern-day tea break, others are troubled by the amount of use, or have had to sack staff for serious abuse.

CBI South East Regional Director Malcolm Hyde said: “Employers understand that the Internet has become a part of everyday life and are prepared to be flexible. Many firms feel that, as long as the job gets done, there is no problem with staff surfing for personal use.

“While an hour and a half a week may sound like a lot, it is not always wasted time. Productivity and morale can increase when firms trust staff to use the web sensibly to catch up with friends on Facebook, pay household bills, or search for a cheap flight.

“However, £10.6bn a year is a significant sum and this is an issue that firms need to be aware of. It can become a problem where staff are spending excessive amounts of time online, are downloading porn or software, or are putting the organisation’s reputation at risk.”

The survey of 503 organisations across the country, which together employ over one million workers, revealed that nearly two-thirds (60%) of employers think staff regularly use office time outside of lunch hours and formal breaks to look at non-work sites, like those involving social networking, web email, shopping and holidays.

Employers across the public and private sectors estimate that 4.4% of working time is lost in this way, which accounts to 95 minutes a week, or ten days a year, at an average annual cost of £939 per employee.

Mr Hyde added: “Nobody wants to behave like Big Brother and there is no epidemic of misuse, but there needs to be a bit of give-and-take from all parties. Employers need to decide for themselves what level of non-work surfing is acceptable and then set out clear boundaries.”

Over half of organisations (54%) restrict Internet access at work, although the extent of that control can vary widely. 14% deny access altogether, while a quarter (25%) have no limits on access. The remaining 7% are considering imposing limits on web use.

Organisations, both private and public sector, with 200-499 employees, suspected the highest proportion of working time lost to leisure-surfing (5%), while the lowest rate (2.7%) was reported by those with 5,000 or more staff. This may be because larger firms have clearer usage policies or have installed IT systems that regulate web usage.

A third of respondents (32%) disciplined an employee for Internet misuse during 2007, while 13% took action to dismiss an employee for persistent misuse.
Source: Maxim PR

Comcast Email Hacked: Webmail security issues, comcast.net site is back up

It seems the importance of using a very strong password for emails is a must because the hacking of Comcast email service shows security issues. Many users do not understand obviously how important it can be, even though internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast using some of the most advanced email security solutions, wonders never cease to amaze because hackers can and will get through.

I have visited www.comcast.net this morning and it seems the site is down with a message on the homepage saying This Site Is Under Construction and Coming Soon but thankfully it is back up and running again, oops so no chance for you to go to Comcast net sign in to login. We all when going to a service like Comcast and other email providers that they use cutting edge email security appliances, but the whole truth of the matter is that much of the Web’s infrastructure is hacked together legacy equipment. In simple terms it is fair to say users should protect themselves from having their online identity compromised, the bottom line is that users should change their passwords frequently and then maybe this hacking problem may ease a little.

Let me say now that anyone using this service that has had the same password for some time now should really consider changing it, the current problems with Comcast web email security solutions proves that it’s vital for us to protect ourselves with effective online caution. Word of warning for those wanting to change passwords, DO NOT use birthdates, pet names or even family names, USE mixed up letters and numbers even down to using uppercase and lowercase characters. I would recommend you changing passwords once a month to be on the safe side,

You should be changing passwords weekly, but even security freaks don’t do it that often. Once or twice each month is really not sufficient, but it’s a lot better than nothing. It’s a simple email security solution that will help you avoid the problems that Comcast email users are having right now.

www.comcast.net is all up and running again.

Is the Apple iPhone really killing the internet? Big Debate

We all know the internet is a great place to be for wonderful things and innovation in some peoples eyes but where will the internet be in say 10 years time?

Could the internet really be dying? I ask this because with all these amazing cell phones like the Apple iPhone for example I believe it is phones like this that will kill the internet. Is this true on the grand scale of things is a something to wonder and according to an Oxford professor with degrees from Harvard and Yale it seems it could be true.

Jonathan Zittrain argues this point saying with identity theft, viruses and many other factors will kill the internet. To tell you the truth when not working I use the Apple iPhone as my source to get my work done.

Jonathan Zittrain says “That’s because these locked-down devices prohibit the kind of tinkering by end users that made PCs and the Internet such a force of economic, political and artistic change.

Read the full story here and then please come back and let us know the answer to this question “Is the Apple iPhone really killing the internet?

Siemens intros the Gigaset SE68 their first WiMAX ExpressCard

Siemens have taken a big step in America, the thing is the company has never had a WiMAX ExpressCard and now we hear that they have released the Gigaset SE68 WiMAX. However the guys at Siemens know what they are doing and the card should be a winner for the company.

The Gigaset SE68 WiMAX complies with Wave 2 specifications, and is based on the IEEE 802.16-2005 standard. The WiMAX ExpressCard has support for beamforming, and the card actually works well in Singapore.

Users can expect bradband speeds up to 20Mbps. The card will be available some time in the summer, as of yet there is no pricing.

Source - Bizz Yahoo via Engadget

New launch of Blinkx Broadband Television, interact with TV: Download Now

A great new service has just been launch by the name of Blinkx Broadband Television (BBTV) which you can download right now. A new web service where you can interact with TV.

Blinkx is California-based and is the world’s largest video search engine which will allow you to search more than 18 million videos across the web; the question is “How good is it?

It will however give you high picture quality videos on a full screen unlike the small screen typical of much online video and in addition all users will be able to interact with the videos they are watching.

The new BBTV service will create a speech track of the video which also allows users to go to certain points just by searching for a particular word, you will be able to click on these certain words in the transcript for additional information on people or places featured, while the videos also link through to other websites which have related information.

Source – Product Page

Facebook & Myspace reveals more than you think: What does it say about you?

Facebook and Myspace are very popular indeed and I have used both of them but mainly use Facebook now, but new research has it that users of social networking sites do fall into five different types of people and it reveals more than you realise.

The new study reveals that users fall into one of these 5 categories –

Faithfuls: Older men and women aged over 20, who typically use social networking sites to rekindle old friendships, often from school or university.

Alpha socialisers: Mostly males under 25 who use sites in intense short bursts to flirt with other people and to meet new people and be entertained.

Followers: Men and women of all ages who join sites to keep up with what their peers are doing.

Attention seekers: Mostly female, who crave attention and comments from others, often posting photos and customising their profiles.

Functionals: Mostly older males who tended to be single-minded in using sites for a particular use.
There are also three types of people that will not use social networking sites at all, these people are the ones that are concerned about safety, those who are not that technically experienced and ones that basically say it is a waste of time.

The research which was done by communications watchdog Ofcom also found that around half of all the children that had internet access have their very own profile on social networking sites.

Source

Mozilla say no to Firefox on Apple iPhone: Have they made a mistake?

We know the Apple iPhone is the biggest product out on the market and I do personally have the iPhone and this is why this latest news is a bit of a kick in the teeth.

I work all day on my computer and indeed use Mozilla Firefox and must say am pretty disappointed that Mozilla have said no to Firefox going on the Apple iPhone.

Mozilla invited a few technology writers to their office on Wednesday for a roundtable discussion and one of the discussions was about the Apple iPhone, John Lilly Mozilla’s CEO and VP of engineering Mike Schroepfer has said that Apple’s software requirements for the handset are too restrictive, this is when they said they will not be making Firefox for the iPhone.

Lilly said, “Apple has not written a license which allows Firefox to run on the iPhone.” Instead, they will pursue more open platforms like Android.
Do you think they have made a mistake and should have Firefox for Apple iPhone?

Source – Phones Review

British court clears Facebook man of harassing his ex-girlfriend

A British court has cleared a Facebook man of harassing his ex-girlfriend on the social network site. Michael Hurst was accused of harassing Sophie Sladden back in January, while on Facebook he sent her a friend request, this will then allow a user to view the persons profile.

Ex-girlfriend Sladden thought that Hurst was trying to intimidate her as he had already received a caution from police. Hurst had this to say in court “DJ Chris Moyles had 1.5 million Facebook friends.” He then added “Do you think he knows them all intimately?”

However the court has told Michael Hurst not to try and make contact with Sophie Sladden again.

Source - NZ Herald

BT and FON join forces: Free Wifi around the Globe

BT and FON have joined forces to create free WiFi network around the world.

If you have a broadband service with BT then FON is free. If you are on another ISP then it’s almost free to join and you just need to spend about €40 on a FON wifi router.

How does it work?
It works by making your wireless internet free to access to other FON users and allowing anybody to connect. To access the hotspots you are given a username and password.

If you opt for the more expensive model for 10 Euro’s more then you also get a fontenna which greatly boosts the signal of your public wireless connection.

Does this idea interest you?

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