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Bush website blocked outside US..Surfers outside the US have been unable to visit the official re-election site of President George W Bush...The blocking of browsers sited outside the US began in the early hours of Monday morning. Since then people outside the US trying to browse the site get a message saying they are not authorised to view it. The blocking does not appear to be due to an attack by vandals or malicious hackers, but as a result of a policy decision by the Bush camp...The international exclusion zone around georgewbush.com was spotted by net monitoring firm Netcraft which keeps an eye on traffic patterns across many different sites. Netcraft said that since the early hours of 25 October attempts to view the site through its monitoring stations in London, Amsterdam and Sydney failed...By contrast Netcraft's four monitoring stations in the US managed to view the site with no problems. The site can still be seen using anonymous proxy services that are based in the US. Some web users in Canada also report that they can browse the site. The pattern of traffic to the website suggests that the blocking was not due to an attack by vandals or politically motivated hackers. Geographic blocking works because the numerical addresses that the net uses to organise itself are handed out on a regional basis. On 21 October, the George W Bush website began using the services of a company called Akamai to ensure that the pages, videos and other content on its site reaches visitors. Mike Prettejohn, president of Netcraft, speculated that the blocking decision might have been taken to cut costs, and traffic, in the run-up to the election on 2 November. He said the site may see no reason to distribute content to people who will not be voting next week. Managing traffic could also be a good way to ensure that the site stays working in the closing days of the election campaign. However, simply blocking non-US visitors also means that Americans overseas are barred too. Akamai declined to comment, saying it could not talk about customer websites. | tech |
Blogger grounded by her airline..A US airline attendant is fighting for her job after she was suspended over postings on her blog, or online diary...Queen of the Sky, otherwise known as Ellen Simonetti, evolved into an anonymous semi-fictional account of life in the sky. But after she posted pictures of herself in uniform, Delta Airlines suspended her indefinitely without pay. Ms Simonetti was told her suspension was a result of "inappropriate" images. Delta Airlines declined to comment..."I was really shocked, I had no warning," Ms Simonetti told BBC News Online. "I never thought I would get in trouble because of the blog. I thought if they had a problem, someone would have said something before taking action." The issue has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest, employment law and free speech on personal websites. Ms Simonetti was suspended on 25 September pending an investigation and has since lodged a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A spokesperson for Delta Airlines told BBC News Online: "All I can tell you is we do not discuss internal employee issues with the media." She added she could not say whether a similar situation over personal websites had occurred in the past...Ms Simonetti started her personal blog in January to help her get over her mother's death. She had ensured she made no mention of which airline she worked for, and created fictional names for cities and companies. The airline's name was changed to Anonymous Airline and the city in which she was based was called Quirksville. A large part of the blog contained fictional stories because Queen of the Sky developed over the months as a character in her own right, according to Ms Simonetti...The images were taken from a digital camera she had inherited from her mother. "We often take pictures on flight or on layovers. I just though why not include them on my blog for fun. "I never meant it as something to harm my company and don't understand how they think it did harm them," Ms Simonetti said. She has also claimed that pictures of male Delta Airline employees in uniform are freely available on the web. Of the 10 or so images on the site, only one showed Ms Simonetti's flight "wings". "They did not tell me which pictures they had a problem with. I am just assuming it was the one of me posing on seats where my skirt rode up," she said. The images were removed as soon as she learned she had been suspended. As far as Ms Simonetti knows, there is no company anti-blogging policy. There is guidance which suggests the company uniform cannot be used without approval from management, but use in personal pictures on websites is unclear...Jeffrey Matsuura, director of the law and technology programme at the University of Dayton, said personal websites can be hazardous for both employers and their employees. "There are many examples of employees who have presented some kind of material online that have gotten them in trouble with employers," he said. It was crucial that any policy about what was and what was not acceptable was expressed clearly, was reasonable, and enforced fairly in company policy. "You have to remember that as an employee, you don't have total free speech anymore," he said. Mr Matsuura added that some companies actively encouraged employees to blog. "One of the areas where it does become a problem is that they encourage this when it suits them, but they may not be particularly clear when they [employees] do cross the line." He speculated that Delta might be concerned that the fictional content on the blog may be linked back to the airline after the images of Ms Simonetti in uniform were posted. "Whether or not that is successful will depend on what exactly is prohibited, and whether you can reasonably say this content now crosses that line," he said. Ms Simonetti said her suspension has caused two of her friends to discontinue their blogs. One of them was asked to stop blogging by his company before any action was taken. "If they had asked me just take down the blog, I would have done it, but that was not been given to me as an option," she said. "This blogging thing is obviously a new problem for employers and they need to get a policy about it. If I had known it would cost me my job, I would not have done that." | tech |
Camera phones are 'must-haves'..Four times more mobiles with cameras in them will be sold in Europe by the end of 2004 than last year, says a report from analysts Gartner...Globally, the number sold will reach 159 million, an increase of 104%. The report predicts that nearly 70% of all mobile phones sold will have a built-in camera by 2008. Improving imaging technology in mobiles is making them an increasingly "must-have" buy. In Europe, cameras on mobiles can take 1.3 megapixel images. But in Japan and Asia Pacific, where camera phone technology is much more advanced, mobiles have already been released which can take 3.2 megapixel images. Japan still dominates mobile phone technology, and the uptake there is huge. By 2008, according to Gartner, 95% of all mobiles sold there will have cameras on them...Camera phones had some teething problems when they were first launched as people struggled with poor quality images and uses for them, as well as the complexity and expense of sending them via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services). This has changed in the last 18 months. Handset makers have concentrated on trying to make phones easier to use. Realising that people like to use their camera phones in different ways, they have introduced more design features, like rotating screens and viewfinders, removable memory cards and easier controls to send picture messages...Mobile companies have introduced more ways for people to share photos with other people. These have included giving people easier ways to publish them on websites, or mobile blogs - moblogs. But the report suggests that until image quality increases more, people will not be interested in printing out pictures at kiosks. Image sensor technology inside cameras phones is improving. The Gartner report suggests that by mid-2005, it is likely that the image resolution of most camera phones will be more than two megapixels. Consumer digital cameras images range from two to four megapixels in quality, and up to six megapixels on a high-end camera. But a lot of work is being done to make camera phones more like digital cameras. Some handsets already feature limited zoom capability, and manufacturers are looking into technological improvements that will let people take more photos in poorly-lit conditions, like nightclubs. Other developments include wide-angle modes, basic editing features, and better sensors and processors for recording film clips...Images from camera phones have even made it into the art world. An exhibition next month in aid of the charity Mencap, will feature snaps taken from the camera phones of top artists...The exhibition, Fonetography, will feature images taken by photographers David Bailey, Rankin and Nan Goldin, and artists Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Jack Vettriano. But some uses for them have worried many organisations. Intel, Samsung, the UK's Foreign Office and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in the US, have decided to ban camera phones from their buildings for fear of sensitive information being snapped and leaked. Many schools, fitness centres and local councils have also banned them over fears about privacy and misuse. Italy's information commissioner has also voiced concern and has issued guidelines on where and how the phones can be used. But camera phone fears have not dampened the manufacturers' profits. According to recent figures, Sony Ericsson's profits tripled in the third-quarter because of new camera phones. Over 60% of mobiles sold during the three months through to September featured integrated cameras, it said. | tech |
Games 'deserve a place in class'..Computer games could enhance learning and have a legitimate place in the classroom, say researchers...Academics from the Institute of Education at London University found that "games literacy" was a key skill for youngsters. As well as being used in different areas of the curriculum, games are a legitimate area of study in their own right, researchers say. Pupils should also be able to create their own games, they say..."Like all games, computer and video games entertain while promoting social development, and playing and talking about games is an important part of young people's lives," said project manager Caroline Pelletier..."Games literacy is a way of investigating how games are means of expression and representation, just like writing or drawing," she said. The researchers conducted two studies into the impact of games on education, the first looking at how they can be used in different curriculum subjects to enhance learning. Researchers found that girls were often excluded from the male-dominated world of game playing. "Without first-hand experience of how much fun a game can be, they have little motivation to play and remain disengaged from an engrossing and sociable activity," said research fellow Diane Carr...The second project looked at how games can be integrated into media education and concluded that writing games should be a core part of studying them. Sixth-form teacher Barney Oram already teaches computer games alongside the more traditional study of film, TV and popular music at the A-level course he runs at Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge...For parents, the idea that computer games could be brought into the classroom environment, could cause controversy. Dr Andrew Burn, associate director of the Institute of Education's Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media moved to reassure anxious parents. "Games are a legitimate cultural form that deserve critical analysis in schools just as film, television and literature do," he said. "But we also want to argue that full understanding only comes when children have the tools to create their own games." The games industry welcomed the report, saying it showed how games had a positive impact on children. "At a time of hysterical and inaccurate reporting it is heartening to see the cultural, social and educational value of computer and video games being assessed intelligently," said Roger Bennett, director general of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. "This report is further evidence, if it were needed, about the excellence and imagination that thrives in gaming. They have much to offer to the education of our children and they have much to offer as a career." The three-year research project, which is being presented at a seminar on Tuesday in London, was partly funded by the Department of Trade and Industry. | tech |
Nuclear body seeks new tech..The computer systems used to monitor the world's nuclear power installations are so outdated that they are hampering the work of inspectors...A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its current technology could allow key information to be overlooked as it was more than 20 years old. Such systems are the only method of tracking nuclear material worldwide. The agency has appealed for more funds to update its hardware and software. "A major overhaul of the system is needed to allow inspectors immediate, secure online access to information," said project manager Livio Costantini...IAEA inspectors make around 3,000 visits a year to more than 900 nuclear facilities worldwide. They are there to verify official reports of activities in the plants, to carry out environmental checks, and also to look for any signs that nuclear material is being smuggled in or out of the facility...The computer system inspectors currently use for comparing data from earlier visits, for instance, was built in the 1970s and largely paper based. An IAEA spokesman said this was extremely inefficient and makes searching for anomalies like searching for a needle in a haystack. The organisation is aiming to start a system upgrade in November, aiming to provide inspectors in the field with secure online access to previous inspection data, design blueprints of nuclear facilities, even satellite images of the plant. Where possible, it hopes to link the system with national records of the import and export of nuclear materials. Further analysis of these could help spot potential smuggling activities or illicit technology transfers between countries, according to a spokesman...Computer specialist at the IAEA, Peter Smith, would like to be able to incorporate state of the art visualisation techniques, more familiar to video games players, into the inspector's toolkit. "The commercials you now see have people are moving around in a virtual world," he said. "If we could have that on our laptops, we could be walking through the plant seeing, on the laptop, how the plant should look. "And if there's a door in the wall that is not on our laptop, then we have a problem." The IAEA estimates the total cost of the four-year project to upgrade its technology will be $40m. So far it has only received $11m from the US and the UK. "Failure to replace the hardware and software, and to integrate fully all the information system components will carry large risks," said an agency statement. | tech |
Web logs aid disaster recovery..Some of the most vivid descriptions of the devastation in southern Asia are on the internet - in the form of web logs or blogs...Bloggers have been offering snapshots of information from around the region and are also providing some useful information for those who want to help. Indian writer Rohit Gupta edits a group blog called Dogs without Borders. When he created it, the site was supposed to be a forum to discuss relations between India and Pakistan. But in the wake of Sunday's tsunami, Mr Gupta and his fellow bloggers switched gears...They wanted to blog the tsunami and its aftermath. One Sri Lankan blogger in the group goes by the online name Morquendi. With internet service disrupted by the tsunami, Morquendi started sending SMS text messages via cell phone from the affected areas of Sri Lanka. "We started publishing these SMSes," says Mr Gupta..."Morquendi was describing scenes like 1,600 bodies washed up on a shore, and people burying, and burying and burying them. People digging holes with their hands. And this was coming through an SMS message. "We didn't have visual accounts on radio or on TV, or in the print media." Soon, thousands of web users around the world were logging on to read Morquendi's first hand accounts. In one message, Morquendi wrote about a Sri Lankan woman who was running home with a friend when the wave hit. "She was being swept away," Morquendi's message read. "She grabbed a tree with one hand and her friend with the other. She says she watched the water pull her friend away." Mr Gupta says the power of Morquendi's text message blogs was palpable. "He was running around, looking for friends, burying bodies, carrying bodies," Mr Gupta says of Morquendi. "I can't even begin to imagine the psychological state he was in when he was sending us reports, and doing the relief work at the same time. "He was caught between being a journalist and being a human being."..Others blogs are helping to spread information about relief efforts. Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts. "What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says. "Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."..Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs. "Imagine if they had this resource available to them, if there was a disaster, how quickly you could funnel aid in, and get people to help," she says. Bloggers in the United States are also getting involved. Ramdhan Yadav Kotamaraja is originally from India, but now lives in Dallas. Mr Kotamaraja wanted to help those affected by the tsunami by pooling money with concerned friends. So, he set up an online payment system on his website. Then, says Mr Kotamaraja, the blogging world found out. "All my blogger friends started linking up my site, and I saw a lot of people other than my friends. I'd say 70% of the donations came from people I don't know. "It's simply unbelievable to me, that people that I don't know will come and start donating." News spreads quickly on weblogs, a phenomenon that helps bloggers expand their audience and scope. In Sri Lanka, blogger Morquendi is recruiting others to help. One recruit calls himself Heretic. In one of his latest posts, Heretic asks: "Have you ever seen fishing trawlers on the road? Ever seen a bus inside a house? "Well," Heretic writes, "that was just the least affected areas - so you can just imagine - or can you?" He concludes: "Keep it blogged."..Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production. | tech |
Pandas benefit from wireless net..The world's dwindling panda population is getting a helping hand from a wireless internet network...The Wolong Nature Reserve in the Sichuan Province of southwest China is home to 20% of the remaining 1,500 giant pandas in the world. A broadband and wireless network installed on the reserve has allowed staff to chronicle the pandas' daily activities. The data and images can be shared with colleagues around the world. The reserve conducts vital research on both panda breeding and bamboo ecology...Using the network, vets have been able to observe how infant pandas feed and suggest changes to improve the tiny cubs' chances of survival..."Digital technology has transformed the way we communicate and share information inside Wolong and with the rest of the world," said Zhang Hemin, director of the Wolong Nature Reserve. "Our researchers now have state-of-the-art digital technology to help foster the panda population and manage our precious surroundings." The network has been developed by Intel, working closely with the staff at Wolong. It includes a 802.11b wireless network and a video monitoring system using five cameras to observe pandas around the clock...Before the new infrastructure arrived at the panda park, staff walked or drove to deliver floppy disks across the reserve. Infant panda health was recorded on paper notebooks and research teams in the field had little access to the data. To foster cultural links across the globe, a children's learning lab has been incorporated in the network, in collaboration with Globio (Federation for Global Biodiversity Education for Children), an international non-profit organisation. It will enable children at local primary schools to hook up with their peers in Portland, Oregon in the US. "Digital technology brings this story to life by enabling a global dialogue to help bridge cultures around the world," said Globio founder Gerry Ellis. | tech |
Search wars hit desktop PCs..Another front in the on-going battle between Microsoft and Google is about to be opened...By the end of 2004 Microsoft aims to launch search software to find any kind of file on a PC hard drive. The move is in answer to Google's release of its own search tool that catalogues data on desktop PCs. The desktop search market is becoming increasingly crowded as Google, AOL, Yahoo and many smaller firms tout programs that help people find files...Microsoft made the announcement about its forthcoming search software during a call to financial analysts to talk about its first quarter results. John Connors, Microsoft's chief financial officer said a test version of its desktop search software should be available for download by the end of the year..."We're going to have a heck of a great race in search between Google, Microsoft and Yahoo," he said. "It's going to be really fun to follow." Microsoft is coming late to the desktop search arena and its software will have to compare favourably with programs from a large number of rivals, many of which have fiercely dedicated populations of users. The program could be based on the software Microsoft owns as a result of its purchase of Lookout Software in early October. On 14 October Google released desktop search software that catalogues all the files on a PC and lets users use one tool to find e-mail messages, spreadsheets, text files and presentations. The software will also find webpages and messages sent via AOL Instant Messenger...Many other firms have released desktop search systems recently too. Companies such as Blinkx, Copernic, Enfish X1 Technologies and X-Friend all do the same job of cataloguing the huge amounts of information that people increasingly store on their desktop or home computer...Apple has also debuted a similar search system for its computers called Spotlight that is due to debut with the release of the Tiger operating system. Due to follow are net giants AOL and Yahoo. The latter recently bought Stata Labs to get its hands on search software that people can use. Microsoft is also reputedly working on a novel search system for the next version of Windows (codenamed Longhorn). However this is not likely to appear until 2006. "The recent activity in the search industry shows that there is a need to move beyond simple keyword-based web search," said Kathy Rittweger, co-founder of Blinkx. "Finding information of our own computers is becoming as difficult as it is to find the relevant webpage amongst the billions that exist."..Desktop search has become important for several reasons. According to research by message analysts the Radicati Group up to 45% of the information critical to keeping many businesses running sits in e-mail messages and attachments. JF Sullivan, spokesman for e-mail software firm Sendmail said many organisations were starting to realise how important messaging was to their organisation and the way the work. "The key thing is being able to manage all this information," he said. Also search is increasingly key to the way that people get around the internet. Many people use a search engine as the first page they go to when getting on the net. Many others use desktop toolbars that let them search for information no matter what other program they are using. Having a tool on a desktop can be a lucrative way to control where people go online. For companies such as Google which relies on revenue from adverts this knowledge about what people are looking for is worth huge amounts of money. But this invasiveness has already led some to ask about the privacy implications of such tools. | tech |
Home phones face unclear future..The fixed line phone in your home could soon be an endangered species...Research by handset maker Nokia shows that more and more people are using their mobile phone for every call they make or take. According to the study, more than 45 million people in the UK, Germany, US and South Korea now only use a mobile. It showed that people keep their fixed line phone because call charges are lower, but most of those questioned said the future was definitely mobile...The Nokia-sponsored research showed that mobiles and fixed phones were used for different purposes. Home phones were used for longer calls but conversations on mobiles tended to be shorter, between mobiles and to friends. In the UK 69% of those questioned said they turned to their fixed phone because it was still cheaper to use than a mobile. However, when pressed few could say with accuracy how tariffs on fixed and mobile phones compared. In the US and Germany many of those interviewed said they used the fixed phone because it was more reliable than a mobile handset and let them get access to the net at relatively high speeds. In all the countries where interviews were carried out, older people were more likely to use a fixed line phone more than a mobile. Women aged 50 or above almost never use a mobile phone, the research found...The move to mobile was most pronounced in South Korea where 65% of those questioned said they already make most of their calls from a mobile. 18% said they would not get a landline if they moved house...Many of those questioned said they had an emotional connection to their fixed phone that drew on its position in the home and the "cosiness" of making a call there. Nokia said these findings had implications for mobile operators who must work hard to ensure that mobiles are seen as cheap, reliable and providing good call quality. The survey also showed that it is not just voice calls that are going wireless. Some of those questioned said they were looking to use a mobile or wireless service to get net access within the next couple of years. Polling firm Mori interviewed more than 6,000 people in the UK, US, Germany and South Korea for the survey. | tech |
Podcasts mark rise of DIY radio..An Apple iPod or other digital music players can hold anything up to 10,000 songs, which is a lot of space to fill...But more and more iPod owners are filling that space with audio content created by an unpredictable assortment of producers. It is called "podcasting" and its strongest proponent is former MTV host and VJ (video jockey) Adam Curry. Podcasting takes its name from the Apple iPod, although you do not need an iPod to create one or to listen to a podcast. A podcast is basically an internet-based radio show which podcasters create, usually in the comfort of their own home. They need only a microphone, a PC, and some editing software. They then upload their shows to the internet and others can download and listen to them, all for free. Using technology based on XML computer code and RSS - Really Simple Syndication - listeners can subscribe to podcasts collected automatically in a bit of software, which Mr Curry has pioneered. The latest MP3 files of shows can then be picked up by a music playing device automatically...Mr Curry records, hosts, edits and produce a daily, 40 minute podcast called The Daily Source Code. He wants to make podcasting "the Next Big Thing" and says it is an extension of his childhood love of radio gadgetry. "I was always into technologies and wires," he explains. "My parents gave me the Radio Shack 101 project kit, which allows you to build an AM transmitter and subsequently an FM transmitter. "I had my mom drive me around the block, see how far it would reach on the car radio."..Mr Curry is American, but he grew up in the Netherlands where he hosted illegal, pirate radio shows in the Dutch capital. He tried university in the US, and ended up back in Holland where he hosted a music video show. He spent the next seven years in New York where he worked at MTV hosting the Top 20 Video Countdown, but spent most of his hours tinkering with this new thing called the internet. "At a certain point in 1995, I was driving in on a Friday afternoon, beautiful blue sky, one of those beautiful days thinking, this is so stupid. "You know, I'm going do the Top 20 Countdown, take the cheque, go home, and sit on the internet until three in the morning. "So, after I finished the show, I quit. I said, on air, it's been great, I've been here for seven years at that point, there's something on the internet, I've got to go find it, and I'll see you later."..But Mr Curry's technology and broadcast interests started to gel a couple of years ago when computer storage was growing exponentially and high-speed internet connections were becoming more widely available. The MP3 format also meant that people could create and upload audio more cheaply and efficiently than ever before...Most importantly, Mr Curry says, people across the globe were bored with the radio they were hearing. "Listen to 99% of the radio that you hear today, it's radio voices, and it's fake, it's just fake." He wanted to make it easier for people to find "real voices" on the internet. He wanted software that would automatically download new audio content directly onto players like, iPods. Mr Curry is not a computer programmer, so he asked others to create one for him. No one did, so he tried to write one himself. He finished it a few months ago and says it "totally sucked." He put it up on the net as open source software and now dozens of coders and audio junkies are refining it; the result is a work in progress called "ipodder". Doug Kaye, a California-based podcaster, praises the former MTV VJ for what he has done. "Adam created a simple script that solved what we call the last mile problem. Ipodder takes audio from the web and brings it all the way down to the MP3 player," he explains. "People can wake up in the morning, pick up their iPods as they go to work or before they go exercise, and discover that there's all this new content automatically put onto their players." It is created an explosion in podcasting content and podcasters are springing up in Australia, Finland, Brazil, even Malaysia. One couple broadcasts theirs, The Dawn and Drew Show, from Wisconsin in the US, sometimes even from the comfort of their own bed. Topics range from the comfort of their bed, to the latest films or music and have thousands of listeners...Already, websites are springing up that point listeners in the right direction of good podcasts...Chris McIntyre runs Podcast Alley and says that there are good sites out there but that not everyone has the technological know-how to simply listen. "If I were to tell my mom, or my mother-in-law to copy an XML or RSS file to their podcast aggregator, they would think I was speaking a foreign language," Mr McIntyre says. Along with technical challenges, there may be legal challenges to podcasters who air their favourite, albeit copyrighted, music. Some in podcasting also worry that too much attention may turn what they see as the "anti-radio" into something that is more like conventional broadcasting. Already there is interest in podcasting from the corporate world. Heineken is doing its own podcast now, and so is Playboy. For his part, Adam Curry's pressing ahead with his own vision of what podcasting should be. He loves doing The Daily Source Code because it is about introducing good music and cool ideas to new audiences. He has even been called the Ed Sullivan or Johnny Carson of podcasting which, he says, "is a badge I'll wear with great honour. "To be the Johnny Carson, or Ed Sullivan of anything is wonderful. And you know what? You don't need a hell of a lot of talent. "You just have to be nice, have your ears open, and let people shine. And that's good for me."..Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production. | tech |
Sony wares win innovation award..Sony has taken the prize for top innovator at the annual awards of PC Pro Magazine...It won the award for taking risks with products and for its "brave" commitment to good design. Conferring the award, PC Pro's staff picked out Sony's PCG-X505/P Vaio laptop as a "stunning piece of engineering". The electronics giant beat off strong competition from Toshiba and chip makers AMD and Intel to take the gong...Paul Trotter, news and features editor of PC Pro, said several Sony products helped it to take the innovation award...He said Sony's Clie PEG UX50 media player with its swivel screen and qwerty keyboard "broke the design rules yet again". Other Sony products that helped included the Vaio W1 desktop computer and the RA-104 media server. Mr Trotter said Sony's combining of computer, screen and keyboard in the W1 was likely to be widely copied in future home PCs. The company has also become one of the first to use organic LEDs in its products. "While not always inventing new technology itself, Sony was never afraid to innovate around various formats," said Mr Trotter...Other awards decided by PC Pro's staff and contributors included one for Canon's EOS 300D digital camera in the Most Wanted Hardware category...Microsoft's Media Player 10 took the award for Most Wanted Software. This year was the 10th anniversary of the PC Pro awards, which splits its prizes into two sections. The first are chosen by the magazine's writers and consultants, the second are voted for by readers. Mr Trotter said more than 13,000 people voted for the Reliability and Service Awards, twice as many as in 2003. Net-based memory and video card shop Crucial shared the award for Online Vendor of the year with Novatech. | tech |
Portable PlayStation ready to go..Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) will go on sale in Japan on 12 December...The long-awaited handheld game playing gadget will cost about 19,800 yen (145 euros) when it hits the shelves. At launch 21 games will be available for the PSP, including Need for Speed, Ridge Racer, Metal Gear Acid and Vampire Chronicle. Sony has not yet announced when the PSP will be available in Europe and the US, but analysts expect it to debut in those territories in early 2005...Fifa 2005 is back at the top of the UK games charts, a week after losing it to rival Pro Evolution Soccer 4. Konami's Pro Evo dropped only one place to two, while the only new entry in the top 10 was another football title, LMA Manager 2005, in at number seven. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 held its own at three, while Star Wars Battlefront inched up to four places to four. There was good news for Disney, with the spin-off from the Shark's Tale film moving up the charts into number eight...Fans of the Gran Turismo series in Europe are going to have to wait until next year for the latest version. Sony has said that the PAL version of GT4 will not be ready for Christmas. "The product is localised into 13 different languages across the PAL territories, therefore the process takes considerably longer than it does in Japan," it said. Gran Turismo 4 for the PlayStation 2 is still expected to be released in Japan and the USA this year...Halo 2 has broken video game records, with pre-orders of more than 1.5 million in the US alone. Some 6,500 US stores plan to open just after midnight on Tuesday 9 November for the game's release. "Halo 2 is projected to bring in more revenue than any day one box office blockbuster movie in the United States," said Xbox's Peter Moore. "We've even heard rumours of fan anticipation of the 'Halo 2 flu' on 9 November." | tech |
Viewers to be able to shape TV..Imagine editing Titanic down to watch just your favourite bits or cutting out the slushier moments of Star Wars to leave you with a bare bones action-fest...Manipulating your favourite films to make a more personalised movie is just the beginning of an ambitious new 7.5m euro (£5.1m) project funded by the European Union. New Media for a New Millennium (NM2) will have as its endgame the development of a completely new media genre, which will allow audiences to create their own media worlds based on their specific interests or tastes. Viewers will be able to participate in storylines, manipulate plots and even the sets and props of TV shows. BT is one of 13 partners involved in the project. It will be contributing software that was originally designed to spot anomalies in CCTV pictures. The software uses content recognition algorithms. The three-year project will work on seven productions as it develops a set of software tools that will allow viewers to edit content to their needs...One of the productions will be a experimental television show where the plot will be driven by text messages from the TV audience...Participants will text selected words which will impact how the characters in the drama interact. It is being developed in Finland and will be shown to Finnish TV audiences. Another team will work on the BBC's big budget drama of Mervyn Peake's gothic fantasy Gormenghast. It will be re-engineered to allow people to choose a variety of edited versions. "The BBC is allowing us access to the material so that we can prove the technology and the principles," explained Dr Doug Williams of BT, who will be NM2's technical project manager. "The TV at the moment is a relatively dumb box which receives signals. This project is about teaching the machine to look at content like Lego blocks that can be reassembled to make perfect sense," he said. "At the moment we have interactive gaming and a limited form of interactive TV which usually means allowing audiences to vote on shows. We are hoping to occupy the space in-between," he added...NM2's co-ordinator Peter Stollenmayer explained that the new genre would radically alter the role of the audience..."Viewers will be able to interact directly with the medium and influence what they see and hear according to their personal tastes and wishes," he said. "Media users will no longer be passive viewers but become active engagers." It will also be important that the tools are sophisticated enough to obey the complex rules of cinematography and editing said John Wyver, from TV producer Illuminations Television Limited, which is also involved in the project. "It's not just a matter of stringing together the romantic or action portions of a production," said Mr Wyver. "The tool has to know which bits fit together both visually, by observing the time-honoured rules that go in editing, and in terms of the story." "Only then will the personalised version both make sense and be aesthetically pleasing," he added. Mr Wyver is planning a production entitled The Golden Age, about Renaissance art. It will allow viewers to create a so-called media world based on their own specific areas of interest such as poetry, music and architecture. Other productions that the NM2 team will make range from news, documentaries to a romantic comedy drama. | tech |
Games maker fights for survival..One of Britain's largest independent game makers, Argonaut Games, has been put up for sale...The London-based company behind the Harry Potter games has sacked about 100 employees due to a severe cash crisis. The administrators told BBC News Online that selling Argonaut was the only way to save it as it had run out of cash. Argonaut warned that it was low on cash 10 days ago when its shares were suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange...Argonaut has been making games for some 18 years and is one the largest independent games developers in the UK...Along with its headquarters in north London, it operates studios in Cambridge and Sheffield. Argonaut was behind the Harry Potter games which provided a healthy flow of cash into the company. But, like all software developers, Argonaut needed a constant flow of deals with publishers. Signs that it was in trouble emerged in August, when it warned it was heading for losses of £6m in the financial year due to delays in signing new contracts for games. Those new deals were further delayed, leading Argonaut to warn in mid-October that it was running out of cash and suspend trading of its shares on the London Stock Exchange. As part of cost-cutting measures, some 100 employees were fired. "When the news about the £6m loss came out, we knew there were going to be redundancies," said Jason Parkinson, one of the game developers sacked by Argonaut. "A lot of people suspected that Argonaut had been in trouble for some time," he told BBC News Online. Mr Parkinson said staff were told the job losses were necessary to save Argonaut from going under. At the start of the year, the company employed 268 people. After the latest round of cuts there are 80 staff at Argonaut headquarters in Edgware in north London, with 17 at its Morpheme offices in Kentish Town, London, and 22 at the Just Add Monsters base in Cambridge...Argonaut called in administrators David Rubin & Partners on Friday to find a way to rescue the company from collapse. It spent the weekend going over the company's finances and concluded that the only way to save the business was to put it up for sale. The administrator told BBC News Online that the costs of restructuing would be too high, partly because of the overheads from the company's four premises across the UK. It said it was hopeful that it could save some 110 jobs by selling the business, saying it had had expressions of interest from several quarters and were looking for a quick sale. The administrator said it would ensure that staff made redundant would receive any wages, redundancy or holiday pay due to them, hopefully by Christmas. | tech |
Pompeii gets digital make-over..The old-fashioned audio tour of historical places could soon be replaced with computer-generated images that bring the site to life...A European Union-funded project is looking at providing tourists with computer-augmented versions of archaeological attractions. It would allow visitors a glimpse of life as it was originally lived in places such as Pompeii. It could pave the way for a new form of cultural tourism...The technology would allow digital people and other computer-generated elements to be combined with the actual view seen by tourists as they walk around an historical site...The Lifeplus project is part of the EU's Information Society Technologies initiative aimed at promoting user-friendly technology and enhancing European cultural heritage. Engineers and researchers working in the Europe-wide consortium have come up with a prototype augmented-reality system. It would require the visitor to wear a head-mounted display with a miniature camera and a backpack computer. The camera captures the view and feeds it to software on the computer where the visitor's viewpoint is combined with animated virtual elements. At Pompeii for example, the visitor would not just see the frescos, taverns and villas that have been excavated, but also people going about their daily life. Augmented reality has been used to create special effects in films such as Troy and Lord of the Rings and in computer gaming..."This technology can now be used for much more than just computer games," said Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalman of the Swiss research group MiraLab..."We are, for the first time, able to run this combination of software processes to create walking, talking people with believable clothing, skin and hair in real-time," she said. Unlike virtual reality, which delivers an entirely computer-generated scene to the viewer, the Lifeplus project is about combining digital and real views. Crucial to the technique is the software that interprets the visitor's view and provides an accurate match between the real and virtual elements. The software capable of doing this has been developed by a UK company, 2d3. Andrew Stoddart, chief scientist at 2d3, said that the EU project has been driven by a new desire to bring the past to life. "The popularity of television documentaries and dramatisations using computer-generated imagery to recreate scenes from ancient history demonstrates the widespread appeal of bringing ancient cultures to life," he said. | tech |
Fast moving phone bugs appear..Security firms are warning about several mobile phone viruses that can spread much faster than similar bugs...The new strains of the Cabir mobile phone virus use short-range radio technology to leap to any vulnerable phone as soon as it is in range. The Cabir virus only affects high-end handsets running the Symbian Series 60 phone operating system. Despite the warnings, there are so far no reports of any phones being infected by the new variants of Cabir...The original Cabir worm came to light in mid-June 2004 when it was sent to anti-virus firms as a proof-of-concept program. A mistake in the way the original Cabir was written meant that even if it escaped from the laboratory, the bug would only have been able to infect one phone at a time...However, the new Cabir strains have this mistake corrected and will spread via short range Bluetooth technology to any vulnerable phone in range. Bluetooth has an effective range of a few tens of metres. The risk of being infected by Cabir is low because users must give the malicious program permission to download on to their handset and then must manually install it. Users can protect themselves by altering a setting on Symbian phones that conceals the handset from other Bluetooth using devices. Finnish security firm F-Secure issued a warning about the new strains of Cabir but said that the viruses do not do any damage to a phone. All they do is block normal Bluetooth activity and drain the phone's battery. Anti-virus firm Sophos said the source code for Cabir had been posted on the net by a Brazilian programmer which might lead to even more variants of the program being created. So far seven versions of Cabir are know to exist, one of which was inside the malicious Skulls program that was found in late November. Symbian's Series 60 software is licenced by Nokia, LG Electronics, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sendo and Siemens. | tech |
Joke e-mail virus tricks users..A virus that disguises itself as a joke is spreading rapidly across the net...Anti-virus firms are issuing high-level warnings about the new version of the Bagle e-mail program that seems to be catching a lot of people out. The Windows virus grabs e-mail addresses from Microsoft Outlook and uses its own mail sending software to spread itself to new victims. When it infects a machine, the Bagle variant turns off security measures that usually protect PCs...The new variant is called Bagle.AT, Bagle.BB and Bagle.AU and the attachment bearing the virus code is labelled as either "joke" or "price"...The body of the virus usually contains nothing but a smiley or emoticon. The virus can strike computers running Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. Users will be infected if they open the attachment that travels with the e-mail. As well as plundering Microsoft Outlook for e-mail addresses to send itself to, Bagle.AT also tries to turn off the firewall and security centre services on Windows XP machines. BBC News Online has received five warnings about the virus from security companies. Finnish company F-Secure gave the virus its second highest threat level. "We've had several reports all over the world," said Mikko Hypponen, director of anti-virus research for F-Secure. Security firm Network Box said that it stopped more than 30,000 copies an hour of the virus as the outbreak reached a peak. Black Spider said it had stopped more than 1 million copies of Bagle.AT since the outbreak began at 0630 BST (0530 GMT). Anti-virus firms urged users to be wary of unexpected e-mail messages bearing attachments and to update their software to ensure they are protected against the latest threats. | tech |
Progress on new internet domains..By early 2005 the net could have two new domain names...The .post and .travel net domains have been given preliminary approval by the net's administrative body. The names are just two of a total of 10 proposed domains that are being considered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Icann. The other proposed names include a domain for pornography, Asia, mobile phones, an anti-spam domain and one for the Catalan language and culture...The .post domain is backed by the Universal Postal Union that wants to use it as the online marker for every type of postal service and to help co-ordinate the e-commerce efforts of national post offices...The .travel domain would be used by hotels, travel firms, airlines, tourism offices and would help such organisations distinguish themselves online. It is backed by a New York-based trade group called The Travel Partnership. Icann said its early decision on the two domains was in response to the detailed technical and commercial information the organisations behind the names had submitted. Despite this initial approval, Icann cautioned that there was no guarantee that the domains would actually go into service. At the same time Icann is considering proposals for another eight domains. One that may not win approval is a proposal to set up a .xxx domain for pornographic websites. A similar proposal has been made many times in the past. But Icann has been reluctant to approve it because of the difficulty of making pornographers sign up and use it. In 2000 Icann approved seven other new domains that have had varying degrees of success. Three of the new so-called top level domains were for specific industries or organisations such as .museum and .aero. Others such as .info and .biz were intended to be more generic. In total there are in excess of 200 domain names and the majority of these are for nations. But domains that end in the .com suffix are by far the most numerous. | tech |
Argonaut founder rebuilds empire..Jez San, the man behind the Argonaut games group which went into administration a week ago, has bought back most of the company...The veteran games developer has taken over the Cambridge-based Just Add Monsters studios and the London subsidiary Morpheme. The Argonaut group went into administration due to a severe cash crisis, firing about half of its staff. In August it had warned of annual losses of £6m for the year to 31 July...Jez San is one of the key figures in the UK's games industry. The developer, who received an OBE in 2002, was estimated to have been worth more than £200m at the peak of the dotcom boom...He founded Argonaut in 1982 and has been behind titles such as 1993 Starfox game. More recently it was behind the Harry Potter games for the PlayStation. But, like all software developers, Argonaut needed a constant flow of deals with publishers. In August it warned of annual losses of £6m, blaming delays in signing new contracts and tough conditions in the software industry. The group's three subsidiaries were placed in administration a week ago, with Mr Sans resigning as the company's CEO and some 100 staff being fired. After the latest round of cuts, there were 80 workers at Argonaut headquarters in Edgware in north London, with 17 at its Morpheme offices in Kentish Town, London, and 22 at the Just Add Monsters base in Cambridge. Mr San has re-emerged, buying back Morpheme and Just Add Monsters. "We are pleased to announce the sale of these two businesses as going concerns," said David Rubin of administrators David Rubin & Partners. "This has saved over 40 jobs as well as the substantial employment claims that would have arisen had the sales not been achieved." Mr Rubin said the administrators were in talks over the sale of the Argonaut software division in Edgware and were hopeful of finding a buyer. "This is a very difficult time for all the employees there, but I salute their commitment to the business while we work towards a solution," he said. Some former employees are angry at the way cash crisis was handled. One told BBC News Online that the staff who had been fired had been "financially ruined in the space of a day". | tech |
Dozens held over ID fraud site..Twenty-eight people, including a Briton, have been arrested after a global operation against a website allegedly involved in identity fraud...Those arrested are accused of operating Shadowcrew.com, which investigators claim was a global clearing house for criminals involved in credit card fraud. A 19-year-old man from Camberley, Surrey, was arrested by the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit but has been bailed. Operation Firewall, led by the US Secret Service, involved seven nations. The British teenager was arrested on Wednesday but details only emerged on Friday. He has now been bailed to return to a Surrey police station in December. All 28 people detained globally are suspected of being involved in an internet-based network which stole people's identities and used computers and websites to defraud credit card companies. The authorities in the US, who have indicted 19 people in Newark, New Jersey, estimate the fraud caused losses of more than $4m. Assistant US Attorney Scott Christie said several people had been arrested in Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Poland and Sweden. Mr Christie said one of the ringleaders was believed to be a Russian, Anatoly Tyukanov...Investigators from 30 law enforcement agencies worldwide spent 15 months looking into the activities of three websites - Shadowcrew, Carderplanet and Darkprofits. The US Secret Service was first tipped off in July 2003. An NHTCU spokeswoman said the American investigators went undercover on the Shadowcrew website and discovered some of the site's 4,000 members were using it for organised crime purposes...She said criminals were using the websites to traffic counterfeit credit cards and false identification information and documents such as credit cards, driver's licences, passports and birth certificates. The websites shared tips on how to commit fraud and provided a forum by which people could buy the information and tools they needed to commit such crime, she said. The Shadowcrew site, which has now been taken over by the US Secret Service, listed several discussion groups, in English and Russian, including one on hacking, spam and online anonymity tools. The head of the NHTCU, Acting Detective Chief Superintendent, Mick Deats, said: "This investigation has resulted in the significant disruption of organised criminals using the internet for profit..."We believe that the suspects have trafficked at least 1.7 million stolen credit card numbers, leading to losses by financial institutions running into the millions." Chief Supt Deats went on to warn: "The internet offers huge legitimate benefits for modern society; however with it brings powerful opportunities for those seeking to abuse those benefits for criminal gain. "Your identity is one of the most precious commodities. Criminals who try to steal the personal and financial information of ordinary citizens as well as the confidential and proprietary information of companies engaged in e-commerce, will be targeted by law enforcement." | tech |
Robots learn 'robotiquette' rules..Robots are learning lessons on "robotiquette" - how to behave socially - so they can mix better with humans...By playing games, like pass-the-parcel, a University of Hertfordshire team is finding out how future robot companions should react in social situations. The study's findings will eventually help humans develop a code of social behaviour in human-robot interaction. The work is part of the European Cogniron robotics project, and was on show at London's Science Museum..."We are assuming a situation in which a useful human companion robot already exists," said Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn, project leader at Hertfordshire. "Our mission is to look at how such a robot should be programmed to respect personal spaces of humans."..The research also focuses on human perception of robots, including how they should look, and how a robot can learn new skills by imitating a human demonstrator. "Without such studies, you will build robots which might not respect the fact that humans are individuals, have preferences and come from different cultural backgrounds," Professor Dautenhahn told BBC News Online. "And I want robots to treat humans as human beings, and not like other robots," she added...In most situations, a companion robot will eventually have to deal not only with one person, but also with groups of people. To find out how they would react, the Hertfordshire Cogniron team taught one robot to play pass-the-parcel with children...Showing off its skills at the Science Museum, the unnamed robot had to select, approach, and ask different children to pick up a parcel with a gift, moving it arm as a pointer and its camera as an eye. It even used speech to give instructions and play music. However, according to researchers, it will still take many years to build a robot which would make full use of the "robotiquette" for human interaction. "If you think of a robot as a companion for the human being, you can think of 20 years into the future," concluded Professor Dautenhahn. "It might take even longer because it is very, very hard to develop such a robot."..You can hear more on this story on the BBC World Service's Go Digital programme. | tech |
Concerns over Windows ATMs..Cash machine networks could soon be more susceptible to computer viruses, a security firm has warned...The warning is being issued because many banks are starting to use the Windows operating system in machines. Already there have been four incidents in which Windows viruses have disrupted networks of cash machines running the Microsoft operating system. But banking experts say the danger is being overplayed and that the risks of infection and disruption are small...For many years the venerable IBM operating system, known as OS/2, has been the staple software used to power many of the 1.4m cash machines in operation around the world. But IBM will end support for OS/2 in 2006 which is forcing banks to look for alternatives. There are also other pressures making banks turn to Windows said Dominic Hirsch, managing director of financial analysis firm Retail Banking Research...He said many cash machines will also have to be upgraded to make full use of the new Europay, Mastercard and Visa credit cards that use computer chips instead of magnetic stripes to store data. US laws that demand disabled people get equal access to information will also force banks to make their cash machines more versatile and able to present information in different ways. Todd Thiemann, spokesman for anti-virus firm Trend Micro, said the move to Windows in cash machines was not without risks. Mr Thiemann said research by the TowerGroup showed that 70% of new cash machines being installed were Windows based...Already, he said, there have been four incidents in which cash machines have been unavailable for hours due to viruses affecting the network of the bank that owns them...In January 2003 the Slammer worm knocked out 13,000 cash machines of the Bank of America and many of those operated by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. In August of the same year, cash machines of two un-named banks were put out of action for hours following an infection by the Welchia worm. Incidents like this happen, said Mr Thiemann, because when banks start using Windows cash machines they also change the networking technology used to link the devices to their back office computers. This often means that all the cash machines and computers in a bank share the same data network. "This could mean that cash machines get caught up in the viruses that are going around because they have a common transmission system," he said. "Banks need to consider protection as part of the investment to maintain the security of that network," Mr Thiemann told BBC News Online...But Mr Hirsch from Retail Banking Research said the number of cash machines actually at risk was low because so few were upgraded every year...Currently, he said, a cash machine has a lifetime of up to 10 years which means that only about 10% of all ATMs get swapped for a newer model every year. "Windows cash machines have been around for several years," he said. "Most banks simply upgrade as part of their usual replacement cycle." "In theory there is a bigger threat with Windows than OS/2," he said, "but I do not think that the banks are hugely concerned at the moment." "It's pretty unusual to hear about virus problems with ATMs," he said. The many different security systems built-in to cash machines meant there was no chance that a virus could cause them to start spitting out cash spontaneously, he said. Banks were more likely to be worried about internal networks being overwhelmed by worms and viruses and customers not being able to get cash out at all, he added. A spokesman for the Association of Payment and Clearing Services (Apacs) which represents the UK's payments industry said the risk from viruses was minimal. "There's no concern that there's going to be any type of virus hitting the UK networks," he said. Risks of infection were small because the data networks that connect UK cash machines together and the operators of the ATMs themselves were a much smaller and tightly-knit community than in the US where viruses have struck. | tech |
Attack prompts Bush site block..The official re-election site of President George W Bush is blocking visits from overseas users for "security reasons"...The blocking began early on Monday so those outside the US and trying to view the site got a message saying they are not authorised to view it. But keen net users have shown that the policy is not being very effective. Many have found that the site can still be viewed by overseas browsers via several alternative net addresses...The policy of trying to stop overseas visitors viewing the site is thought to have been adopted in response to an attack on the georgewbush.com website. Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign said: "The measure was taken for security reasons." He declined to elaborate any further on the blocking policy. The barring of non-US visitors has led to the campaign being inundated with calls and forced it to make a statement about why the blocking was taking place. In early October a so-called "denial of service" attack was mounted on the site that bombarded it with data from thousands of PCs. The attack made the site unusable for about five hours...About the same time the web team of the Bush-Cheney campaign started using the services of a company called Akamai that helps websites deal with the ebbs and flows of visitor traffic. Akamai uses a web-based tool called EdgeScape that lets its customers work out where visitors are based. Typically this tool is used to ensure that webpages, video and images load quickly but it can also be used to block traffic. Geographic blocking works because the numerical addresses that the net uses to organise itself are handed out on a regional basis. Readers of the Boingboing weblog have found that viewers can still get at the site by using alternative forms of the George W Bush domain name. Ironically one of the working alternatives is for a supposedly more secure version of the site. There are now at least three working alternative domains for the Bush-Cheney campaign that let web users outside the US visit the site. The site can also be seen using anonymous proxy services that are based in the US. Some web users in Canada also report that they can browse the site...The international exclusion zone around georgewbush.com was spotted by net monitoring firm Netcraft which keeps an eye on traffic patterns across many different sites...Netcraft said that since the early hours of 25 October attempts to view the site through its monitoring stations in London, Amsterdam and Sydney have failed. By contrast Netcraft's four monitoring stations in the US managed to view the site with no problems. Data gathered by Netcraft on the pattern of traffic to the site shows that the blocking is not the result of another denial of service attack. Mike Prettejohn, Netcraft president, speculated that the blocking decision might have been taken to cut costs, and traffic, in the run-up to the election on 2 November. He said the site may see no reason to distribute content to people who will not be voting next week. Managing traffic could also be a good way to ensure that the site stays working in the closing days of the election campaign. However, simply blocking non-US visitors also means that Americans overseas are barred too. Most American soldiers stationed overseas will be able to see the site as they use the US military's own portion of the net. Akamai declined to comment, saying it could not talk about customer websites. | tech |
Loyalty cards idea for TV addicts..Viewers could soon be rewarded for watching TV as loyalty cards come to a screen near you...Any household hooked up to Sky could soon be using smartcards in conjunction with their set-top boxes. Broadcasters such as Sky and ITV could offer viewers loyalty points in return for watching a particular channel or programme. Sky will activate a spare slot on set-top boxes in January, marketing magazine New Media Age reported...Sky set-top boxes have two slots. One is for the viewer's decryption card, while the other has been dormant until now...Loyalty cards have become a common addition to most wallets, as High Street brands rush to keep customers with a series of incentives offered by store cards. Now similar schemes look set to enter the highly competitive world of multi-channel TV. Viewers who stay loyal to a particular TV channel could be rewarded by free TV content or freebies from retail partners. Broadcasters aiming content at children could offer smartcards which gives membership to exclusive content and clubs. "Parents could pre-pay for some content, as a kind of TV pocket money card," said Nigel Whalley, managing director of media consultancy Decipher...Viewers could even be rewarded for watching ad breaks, with ideas such as ad bingo being touted by firms keen to make money out of the new market, said Mr Whalley. Credit cards that have been chipped could be used in set-top boxes to pay for movies, gambling and gaming. "The idea of an intelligent card in boxes offers a lot of possibilities. It will be down to the ingenuity of the content players," said Mr Whalley. For the BBC, revenue-generating activity will be of little interest but the new development may prompt changes to Freeview set-top boxes, said Mr Whalley. Currently most Freeview boxes do not have a slot which would allow viewers to use a smartcard. Some 7.4 million households have Sky boxes and Sky is hoping to increase this to 10 million by 2010. Loyalty cards could play a role in this, particularly in reducing the number of people who cancel their Sky subscriptions, said Ian Fogg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. | tech |
The Force is strong in Battlefront..The warm reception that has greeted Star Wars: Battlefront is a reflection not of any ingenious innovation in its gameplay, but of its back-to-basics approach and immense nostalgia quotient...Geared towards online gamers, it is based around little more than a series of all-out gunfights, set in an array of locations all featured in, or hinted at during, the two blockbusting film trilogies. Previous Star Wars titles like the acclaimed Knights Of The Old Republic and Jedi Knight have regularly impressed with their imaginative forays into the far corners of the franchise's extensive universe, and their use of weird and wonderful new characters. Battlefront on the other hand wholeheartedly revisits the most recognisable elements of the hit movies themselves...The sights, sounds and protagonists on show here will all be instantly familiar to fans, who may well feel that the opportunity to relive Star Wars' most memorable screen skirmishes makes this the game they have always waited for. The mayhem can be viewed from either a third or first-person perspective, and you can either fight for the forces of freedom or join Darth Vader on the Dark Side, depending on the episode and type of campaign as well as the player's personal propensity for good or evil...There is ample chance to be a Wookie, shoot Ewoks and rush into battle alongside a fired-up Luke Skywalker. In each section, the task is simply to wipe out enemy troops, seize strategic waypoints and move on to the next planet. It really is no more complicated than that. Locations include the frozen wastes of Hoth, the ice planet from The Empire Strikes Back, complete with massive mechanical AT-ATs on the march. There are also the dusty, sinister deserts of Tatooine and Geonosis, as well as the forest moon of Endor, where Return Of The Jedi's much-maligned Ewoks lived. The feel of those places is well and truly captured, with both backdrops and characters looking good and very authentic. It is worth noting though that on the PlayStation 2, the game's graphics are a curiously long way behind those of the Xbox version. The pivotal element behind Battlefront's success is that it successfully gives you the feel of being of being plunged into the midst of large-scale war. The number of combatants, noise and abundance of laser fire see to that, and the sense of chaos really comes over...Speaking of noise, Battlefront is a real testament to the strength of the Star Wars galaxy's audio motifs...The multitude of distinctive weapon and vehicle noises are immensely familiar, as are the stirring John Williams symphonies that never let up. There is also a particularly snazzy remix of one of his themes in the menu section. It has to be said if the game did not have the boon of being Star Wars, it would not stand up for long. The gameplay is reliable, bog-standard stuff, short on originality. There are also odd annoyances, like the game's insistence on re-spawning you miles away from the action, an irritating price to pay for not getting blown up the second you appear. And some of the weapons and vehicles are not as responsive and fluid to operate as they might be. That said, it is still great fun to pilot a Scout Walker or Speeder Bike, however non user-friendly they prove. Whilst it is firmly designed with multiplayer action in mind, Battlefront is actually perfectly good fun as an offline game. The above-average AI of the enemy sees to that, although given the frenetic environments they operate in, their strategic behaviour does not need to be all that sophisticated. Battlefront's novelty value will doubtless wear off relatively fast, leaving behind a slightly empty one-trick-pony of a game. But for a while, it is an absolute blast, and one of the most immediately satisfying video game offerings yet from George Lucas' stable. | tech |
'Ultimate game' award for Doom 3..Sci-fi shooter Doom 3 has blasted away the competition at a major games ceremony, the Golden Joystick awards...It was the only title to win twice, winning Ultimate Game of the year and best PC game at the awards, presented by Little Britain star Matt Lucas. The much-anticipated sci-fi horror Doom 3 shot straight to the top of the UK games charts on its release in August. Other winners included Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which took the Most Wanted for Christmas prize. Only released last week, it was closely followed by Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, which are expected to be big hits when they are unleashed later this month...But they missed out on the prize for the Most Wanted game of 2005, which went to the Nintendo title, The Legend of Zelda. The original Doom, released in 1994, heralded a new era in computer games and introduced 3D graphics. It helped to establish the concept of the first-person shooter. Doom 3 was developed over four years and is thought to have cost around $15m (£8.3m). The top honour for the best online game of the year went to Battlefield Vietnam. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was handed the Unsung Hero Game of 2004. Its release was somewhat eclipsed by Doom 3, which was released on the same week. It was, however, very well received by gamers and was praised for its storyline which differed from the film released around the same time. Electronic Arts was named top publisher of the year, taking the crown from Nintendo which won in 2003. The annual awards are voted for by more than 200,000 readers of computer and video games magazines. Games awards like this have grown in importance. Over the last six years, the UK market for games grew by 100% and was worth a record £1,152m in 2003, according to a recent report by analysts Screen Digest. | tech |
Gadget show heralds MP3 season..Partners of those who love their hi-tech gear may want to get their presents in early as experts predict a gadget shortage this Christmas...With Apple's iPod topping wish lists again, there may not be enough iPod minis to go round, predicts Oliver Irish, editor of gadget magazine Stuff. "The iPod mini is likely to be this year's Tracey Island," said Mr Irish. Stuff has compiled a list of the top 10 gadgets for 2004 and the iPod is at number one...For anyone bewildered by the choice of gadgets on the market, Stuff and What Hi-Fi? are hosting a best-of gadget show in London this weekend. Star of the show will be Sony's Qrio Robot, an all-singing, all-dancing, football-playing man-machine who can even hold intelligent conversations...But he is not for sale and Sony has no commercial plans for the robot. "He will greet visitors and is flying in from Japan. He probably has his own airplane seat, that is how highly Sony prize him," said Mr Irish. Also on display will be a virtual keyboard which projects itself onto any flat surface. The event will play host to a large collection of digital music players, from companies such as Creative, Sony and Philips as well as the ubiquitously fashionable iPod from Apple. Suggestions that it could be a gaming or wireless Christmas are unlikely to come true as MP3 players remain the most popular stocking filler, said Mr Irish. "Demand is huge and Apple has promised that it can supply enough but people might struggle to get their hands on iPod minis," said Mr Irish...For those who like their gadgets to be multi-talented, the Gizmondo, a powerful gaming console with GPS and GPRS, that also doubles up as an MP3 player, movie player and camera, could be a must-have. "What is impressive is how much it can do and how well it can do them," said Mr Irish. This Christmas, gadgets will not be an all-male preserve. "Women will be getting gadgets from husbands and boyfriends as well as buying them for themselves," said Mr Irish. "Gadgets nowadays are lifestyle products rather than just for geeks." | tech |
Commodore finds new lease of life..The once-famous Commodore computer brand could be resurrected after being bought by a US-based digital music distributor...New owner Yeahronimo Media Ventures has not ruled out the possibility of a new breed of Commodore computers. It also plans to develop a "worldwide entertainment concept" with the brand, although details are not yet known. The groundbreaking Commodore 64 computer elicits fond memories for those who owned one back in the 1980s...In the chronology of home computing, Commodore was one of the pioneers...The Commodore 64, launched in 1982, was one of the first affordable home PCs. It was followed a few years later by the Amiga. The Commodore 64 sold more than any other single computer system, even to this day. The brand languished somewhat in the 1990s. Commodore International filed for bankruptcy in 1994 and was sold to Dutch firm Tulip Computers. In the late 1980s the firm was a great rival to Atari, which produced its own range of home computers and is now a brand of video games, formerly known as Infogrames...Tulip Computers sold several products under the Commodore name, including portable USB storage devices and digital music players. It had planned to relaunch the brand, following an upsurge of nostalgia for 1980s-era games. Commodore 64 enthusiasts have written emulators for Windows PC, Apple Mac and even PDAs so that the original Commodore games can be still run. The sale of Commodore is expected to be complete in three weeks in a deal worth over £17m. | tech |
Broadband in the UK growing fast..High-speed net connections in the UK are proving more popular than ever...BT reports that more people signed up for broadband in the last three months than in any other quarter. The 600,000 connections take the total number of people in the UK signing up for broadband from BT to almost 3.3 million. Nationally more than 5 million browse the net via broadband. Britain now has among the highest number of broadband connections throughout the whole of Europe...According to figures gathered by industry watchdog, Ofcom, the growth means that the UK has now surpassed Germany in terms of broadband users per 100 people. The UK total of 5.3 million translates into 7.5 connections per 100 people, compared to 6.7 in Germany and 15.8 in the Netherlands. The numbers of people signing up to broadband include those that get their service direct from BT or via the many companies that re-sell BT lines under their own name. Part of the surge in people signing up was due to BT stretching the reach of ADSL - the UK's most widely used way of getting broadband - beyond 6km...Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line technology lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. The standard speed is 512kbps, though faster connections are available. "This breakthrough led to a dramatic increase in orders as we were suddenly able to satisfy the pent-up demand that existed in many areas," said Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale which provides phone lines that other firms re-sell. BT Retail, which sells net services under its own name, also had a good quarter and provided about 30% of the new broadband customers. This was a slight increase on the previous three months. Despite the good news about growth in broadband, figures from telecommunications regulator Ofcom show that BT faces increasing competition, and dwindling influence, in other sectors. Local Loop Unbundling, (LLU), in which BT rivals install their hardware in exchanges and take over the line to a customer's home or office, is growing steadily. Cable & Wireless and NTL have announced that they are investing millions to start offering LLU services. By the end of September more than 4.2 million phone lines were using so-called Carrier Pre-Section (CPS) services, such as TalkTalk and One.Tel, which route phone calls across non-BT networks from a local exchange. There are now more than 300 different firms offering CPS services and the percentage of people using BT lines for voice calls has shrunk to 55.4%. | tech |
Slim PlayStation triples sales..Sony PlayStation 2's slimmer shape has proved popular with UK gamers, with 50,000 sold in its first week on sale...Sales have tripled since launch, outstripping Microsoft's Xbox, said market analysts Chart-Track. The numbers were also boosted by the release of the PS2-only game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The title broke the UK sales record for video games in its first weekend of release. Latest figures suggest it has sold more than 677,000 copies..."It is obviously very, very encouraging for Sony because Microsoft briefly outsold them last week," John Houlihan, editor of Computerandvideogames.com told BBC News. "And with Halo 2 [for Xbox] out next week, it really is a head-to-head contest between them and Xbox."..Although Xbox sales over the last week also climbed, PS2 sales were more than double that. The figures mean Sony is reaching the seven million barrier for UK sales of the console. Edinburgh-based developer, Rockstar, which is behind the GTA titles, has seen San Andreas pull in an estimated £24m in gross revenues over the weekend. In comparison, blockbuster films like Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban took £11.5m in its first three days at the UK box office. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took nearly £10m over its opening weekend, although games titles are four to five times more expensive than cinema tickets...Gangster-themed GTA San Andreas is the sequel to Grand Theft Auto Vice City which previously held the record for the fastest-selling video game ever. The Xbox game Halo 2, released on 11 November in the UK, is also widely tipped to be one of the best-selling games of the year. The original title won universal acclaim in 2001, and sold more than four million copies...Mr Houlihan added that Sony had done well with the PS2, but it definitely helped that the release of San Andreas coincided with the slimline PS2 hitting the shelves. The run-up to Christmas is a huge battlefield for games consoles and titles. Microsoft's Xbox had been winning the race up until last week in sales. The sales figures also suggest that it may be a largely adult audience driving demand, since GTA San Andreas has an 18 certificate. Sony and Microsoft have both reduced console prices recently and are preparing the way for the launches of their next generation consoles in 2005. "Both have hit crucial price points at around £100 and that really does open up new consoles to new audience, plus the release of two really important games in terms of development are also driving those sales," said Mr Houlihan. | tech |
Seamen sail into biometric future..The luxury cruise liner Crystal Harmony, currently in the Gulf of Mexico, is the unlikely setting for tests of biometric technology...As holidaymakers enjoy balmy breezes, their ship's crew is testing prototype versions of the world's first internationally issued biometric ID cards, the seafarer's equivalent of a passport. Along with the owner's picture, name and personal details, the new Seafarers' Identity Document incorporates a barcode representing unique features of its holder's fingerprints. The cards are due to be issued in February next year, in line with the revised UN Convention on Seafarers' Identity Documents of June 2003. Tests currently under way in the Caribbean are designed to ensure that new cards and their machine readers, produced by different companies in different countries, are working to interoperable standards. Results of the current tests, which involve seafarers from a wide range of occupations and nationalities, will be published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) by the end of November. Crystal Cruises, which operates the Crystal Harmony, is exploring the use of biometrics but has not yet committed to the technology...Authenti-corp, the US technology consultancy, has been working with the ILO on its technical specifications for the cards..."If you're issued a seafarer's ID in your country, you want to be sure that when the ship lands in a port in, say, my country you can validate yourself using whatever equipment we have installed," Authenti-corp's CEO, Cynthia Musselman, told the BBC's Go Digital programme. She said French, Jordanian and Nigerian nationals would be the first seafarers to get the new ID cards since their countries have already ratified the convention. It aims to combat international terrorism whilst guaranteeing the welfare the one million seafarers estimated to be at sea. The convention highlights the importance of access to shore facilities and shore leave as vital elements to a sailor's wellbeing and, therefore, it says, to safer shipping and cleaner oceans. "By increasing security on the seas as well as border control and protection, the cards will hopefully reduce the number of piracy problems around the world," said Ms Musselman. "It should be a safer environment for seafarers to work in, and will allow people protecting their borders to have confidence that the people getting off the ship are, in fact, seafarers." | tech |
US duo in first spam conviction..A brother and sister in the US have been convicted of sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to AOL subscribers...It is the first criminal prosecution of internet spam distributors. Jurors in Virginia recommended that the man, Jeremy Jaynes, serve nine years in prison and that his sister, Jessica DeGroot, be fined $7,500. They were convicted under a state law that bars the sending of bulk e-mails using fake addresses...They will be formally sentenced next year. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted. Prosecutors said Jaynes was "a snake oil salesman in a new format", using the internet to peddle useless wares, news agency Associated Press reported. A "Fed-Ex refund processor" was supposed to allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. Another item on sale was an "internet history eraser". His sister helped him process credit card payments. Jaynes amassed a fortune of $24m from his sales, prosecutors said. "He's been successful ripping people off all these years," AP quoted prosecutor Russell McGuire as saying. Jaynes was also found guilty of breaking a state law which prohibits the sending of more than 100,000 e-mails in 30 days, Virginia State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore reportedly said. Prosecutors had asked for 15 years in jail for Jaynes, and a jail term for his sister. But Jaynes' lawyer David Oblon called the nine-year recommended term "outrageous" and said his client believed he was innocent. He pointed out that all three of the accused lived in North Carolina and were unaware of the Virginia state law. Spam messages are estimated to account for at least 60% of all e-mails sent. | tech |
US blogger fired by her airline..A US airline attendant suspended over "inappropriate images" on her blog - web diary - says she has been fired...Ellen Simonetti, known as Queen of the Sky, wrote an anonymous semi-fictional account of her life in the sky. She was suspended by Delta in September. In a statement, she said she was initiating legal action against the airline for "wrongful termination". A Delta spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that Ms Simonetti was no longer an employee. Delta has repeatedly declined to elaborate on what it calls "internal employee matters". A spokesperson reiterated this position on Wednesday, confirming only that Ms Simonetti was no longer with the company. The spokesperson also confirmed that there were "very clear rules" attached to the unauthorised use of Delta branding, including uniforms. Ms Simonetti announced on her blog she had been fired on 1 November...She said in an official statement: "As a result of my suspension and subsequent termination without cause by Delta Airlines I am moving forward with filing a discrimination complaint with the Federal Government EEOC [US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]." She added she had also hired a Texas-based law firm to initiate legal action for "wrongful termination, defamation of character and lost future wages." Ms Simonetti told the BBC News website she had received no warning or further explanation when she was suspended on 25 September. Queen of the Sky has received a lot of support and advice from the global blogging community since news of her suspension was brought to light on the BBC News website and others...Her story has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest, employment law and free speech on personal websites. The blog, which she started in January as a way of getting over her mother's death, contains a mix of fictional and non-fictional accounts. Queen of the Sky developed over the months as a character in her own right, according to Ms Simonetti. In the postings, she made up fictional names for cities and other companies she mentioned to protect anonymity. But some postings contained images of herself in uniform. Of the 10 or so images only one showed Ms Simonetti's flight "wings". She removed them as soon as she was informed of her suspension. "I never meant it as something to harm my company and don't understand how they think it did harm them," Ms Simonetti said. A legal expert in the US speculated that Delta might be concerned that the fictional content on the blog may be linked back to the airline after the images were posted...Delta has been hit recently by pressures of rising fuel costs and fierce competition. It has said it needs to cut between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs and reduce costs by $5bn (£2.7bn) a year. Analysts had warned recently that the airline might have to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy prevention. Last week, it struck a $1bn cost-cutting deal with its pilots which could save it from bankruptcy. The deal would see pilots accept a 32% pay cut in return for the right to buy 30 million Delta shares, unions said. And on Monday, it negotiated a deal to defer about $135m in debt which was due next year, until 2007. The airline also said it had agreed the terms of a $600m loan from American Express. | tech |
Gates opens biggest gadget fair..Bill Gates has opened the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, saying that gadgets are working together more to help people manage multimedia content around the home and on the move...Mr Gates made no announcement about the next generation Xbox games console, which many gadget lovers had been hoping for. About 120,000 people are expected to attend the trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet and runs from 6 to 9 January. The latest trends in digital imaging, storage technologies, thinner flat screen and high-definition TVs, wireless and portable technologies, gaming, and broadband technologies will all be on show over the three days...Mr Gates said that a lot of work had been done in the last year to sort out usability and compatibility issues between devices to make it easier to share content..."We predicted at the beginning of the decade that the digital approach would be taken for granted - but there was a lot of work to do. "What is fun is to come to the show and see what has been done. It is going even faster than we expected and we are excited about it." He highlighted technology trends over the last year that had driven the need to make technology and transferring content across difference devices "seamless". "Gaming is becoming more of a social thing and all of the social genres will use this rich communications. "And if we look at what has been going on with e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, entertainment - if we can make this seamless, we can create something quite phenomenal."..Mr Gates said the PC, like Microsoft's Media Centre, had a central role to play in how people would be making the most out of audio, video and images but it would not be the only device. "It is the way all these devices work together which will make the difference," he said. He also cited the success of the Microsoft Xbox video game Halo 2, released in November, which pushed Xbox console sales past PlayStation in the last two months of 2004 for the first time in 2004. The game, which makes use of the Xbox Live online games service, has sold 6.23 million copies since its release. "People are online and playing together and that really points to the future," he said. Several partnerships with device and hardware manufacturers were highlighted during Mr Gates' speech, but there were few major groundbreaking new technology announcements. Although most of these affected largely US consumers, the technologies highlighted the kind of trends to come. These included what Mr Gates called an "ecosystem of technologies", like SBC's IPTV, a high-definition TV and digital video recorder that worked via broadband to give high-quality and fast TV. There were also other deals announced which meant that people could watch and control content over portable devices and mobile phones...CES features several more key speeches from major technology players, such as Intel and Hewlett Packard, as well as parallel conference sessions on gaming, storage, broadband and the future of digital music. About 50,000 new products will be unleashed at the tech-fest, which is the largest yet. Consumer electronics and gadgets had a phenomenal year in 2004, according to figures released by CES organisers the CEA on Tuesday. The gadget explosion signalled the strongest growth yet in the US in 2004. That trend is predicted to continue with wholesale shipments of consumer technologies expected to grow by 11% again in 2005. | tech |
GTA sequel is criminally good..The Grand Theft Auto series of games have set themselves the very highest of standards in recent years, but the newest addition is more than able to live up to an increasingly grand tradition...The 18 certificate GTA: San Andreas for the PlayStation 2 could have got away with merely revisiting a best-selling formula with a more-of-the-same approach. Instead, it builds and expands almost immeasurably upon the last two games and stomps, carefree, over all the Driv3r and True Crime-shaped opposition. Even in the year that will see sequels to Halo and Half-Life, it is hard to envisage anything topping this barnstorming instant classic...The basic gameplay remains familiar. You control a character, on this occasion a youth named CJ, who sets out on a series of self-contained missions within a massive 3D environment. CJ can commandeer any vehicle he stumbles across from a push-bike to a city bus to a plane. All come in handy as he seeks to establish his presence in a tough urban environment and avenge the dreadful deeds waged upon his family. To make things worse, he is framed for murder the moment he arrives in town, and blackmailed by crooked cops played by Samuel L Jackson and Chris Penn. The setting for all this rampant criminality is the fictional US state of San Andreas, comprising three major cities: Los Santos, which is a thinly-disguised Los Angeles, San Fierro, aka San Francisco and Las Venturas, a carbon copy of Las Vegas. San Andreas sucks you in with its sprawling range, cast of characters and incredibly sharp writing...Its ability to capture the ambience of the real-world versions of these cities is something to behold, assisted no end by the monumental graphical advances since Vice City. The streets, and vast swathes of countryside, are by turns gloriously menacing, grungy and preppy. Flaunting awesome levels of graphical detail, the game's overall look, particularly during the many unusual weather conditions and dramatic sunsets, is stupendous. The outstanding bread-and-butter gameplay mechanics provide a solid grounding for the elaborate plot to hang on. Cars handle more convincingly than ever, a superb motion blur kicks in when you hit high speeds, and there's more traffic to navigate than before. Park your vehicle across the lanes of a freeway, and within seconds there will be a huge pile-up. Pedestrians are also out in force, and are a loquacious bunch. CJ can interact with them using a simple system on the control pad. They will pass comments on his appearance and credibility, aspects that the player now has control over. Clothes, tattoos and haircuts can all be purchased, and funding these habits can be achieved by criminal means or by indulging in mini-games like betting on horses and challenging bar patrons to games of pool. The character will put on or lose weight according to how long he spends on foot or in the gym. He will have to pause regularly in restaurants to keep energy levels up, but will swell up as a result of over-eating. And at last, this is a GTA hero who can swim...At a time when games are once again under fire for their supposed potential to corrupt the young, San Andreas' violence, or specifically the freedom it gives the player to commit violence, are sure to inflame the pro-censorship brigade. Developers Rockstar have not shied away from brutality, and in some respects ramp it up from past outings...When hijacking a car, for example, CJ will gratuitously shove the driver's head into the steering wheel rather than just fleeing with the vehicle. Indeed, the tone is darker than the jokey Vice City. The grim subject matter here hardly lends itself to gags in quite the same way as the cheesy 80s setting of the last game. This title, incidentally, is set in 1992, but that is really neither here nor there apart from the influence it has on the radio playlists. The wit is still present, just more restrained than in previous outings. A further reason for this is that the incredible range of in-vehicle radio stations available means you will spend less time happening upon the hilarious talk radio options, where GTA games' trademark humour is anchored. The quality of voice acting and motion capture is simply off-the-chart. The game's rather odious gangland lowlifes swagger and mouth off in a way that rings very true indeed. It is a testament to San Andreas' magnificence that it has a number of prominent flaws, but plus-points are so numerous that the niggles don't detract. The on-screen map, for instance, is needlessly fiddly, an unwelcome change from past editions. There is also a very jarring slowdown at action-packed moments. And the game suffers from the age-old problem that can be relied upon to blight all games of this genre, setting you back a vast distance when you fail right at the very end of a long mission. But the gameplay experience in its entirety is overwhelmingly positive. You simply will not be bothered by these minor failings. San Andreas is among the few unmissable games of 2004. | tech |
BT offers free net phone calls..BT is offering customers free internet telephone calls if they sign up to broadband in December...The Christmas give-away entitles customers to free telephone calls anywhere in the UK via the internet. Users will need to use BT's internet telephony software, known as BT Communicator, and have a microphone and speakers or headset on their PC. BT has launched the promotion to show off the potential of a broadband connection to customers...People wanting to take advantage of the offer will need to be a BT Together fixed-line customer and will have to sign up to broadband online. The offer will be limited to the first 50,000 people who sign up and there are limitations - the free calls do not include calls to mobiles, non-geographical numbers such as 0870, premium numbers or international numbers. BT is keen to provide extra services to its broadband customers. "People already using BT Communicator have found it by far the most convenient way of making a call if they are at their PC," said Andrew Burke, director of value-added services at BT Retail. As more homes get high-speed access, providers are increasingly offering add-ons such as cheap net calls. "Broadband and telephony are attractive to customers and BT wants to make sure it is in the first wave of services," said Ian Fogg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "BT Communicator had a quiet launch in the summer and now BT is waving the flag a bit more for it," he added...BT has struggled to maintain its market share of broadband subscribers as more competitors enter the market. Reports say that BT has lost around 10% of market share over the last year, down from half of broadband users to less than 40%. BT is hoping its latest offer can persuade more people to jump on the broadband bandwagon. It currently has 1.3 million broadband subscribers. | tech |
When invention turns to innovation..It is unlikely that future technological inventions are going to have the same kind of transformative impact that they did in the past...When history takes a look back at great inventions like the car and transistor, they were defining technologies which ultimately changed people's lives substantially. But, says Nick Donofrio, senior vice-president of technology and manufacturing at IBM, it was not "the thing" itself that actually improved people's lives. It was all the social and cultural changes that the discovery or invention brought with it. The car brought about a crucial change to how people lived in cities, giving them the ability to move out into the suburbs, whilst having mobility and access. "When we talk about innovation and creating real value in the 21st Century, we have to think more like this, but faster," Mr Donofrio told the BBC News website, after giving the Royal Academy of Engineering 2004 Hinton Lecture. "The invention, discovery is likely not to have the same value as the transistor had or the automobile had. "The equivalent of those things will be invented or discovered, but by themselves, they are just not going to able to generate real business value or wealth as these things did." These are not altogether new ideas, and academics have been exploring how technologies impact wider society for years. But what it means for technology companies is that a new idea, method, or device, will have to have a different kind thinking behind it so that people see the value that innovative technology has for them...We are in a different phase now when it comes to technology, argues Mr Donofrio, Industry Week's 2003 Technology Leader of the Year. The hype and over-promise is over and now technology leaders have to demonstrate that things work, make sense, make a difference and life gets better as a result..."In the dotcom era, there was something that was jumping up in your face every five minutes. "Somebody had a new thing that would awe you. You weren't quite sure that it did anything, you weren't quite sure if you needed it, you weren't quite sure if it had value for it, but it was cool." But change and innovation in technology that people will see affecting their daily lives, he says, will come about slowly, subtlety, and in ways that will no longer be "in your face". It will creep in pervasively. Nanotechnologies will play a key part in this kind of pervasive environment in all sorts of ways, through new superconducting materials, to coatings, power, and memory storage. "I am a very big believer in the evolution of this industry into a pervasive environment, in an incredible network infrastructure," says Mr Donofrio. Pervasive computing is where wireless computing rules, and where jewellery, clothes, and everyday objects become the interfaces instead of bulky wires, screens and keyboards. The net becomes a true network that is taken for granted and just there, like air. "People will not have to do anything to stay connected. People will know their lives are just better," says Mr Donofrio. "Trillions of devices will be connected to the net in ways people will not know." Natural interfaces will develop, devices will shape your persona, and our technologically underused voices could be telling our jewellery to sort out the finances...Ultimately, there will be, says Mr Donofrio, no value in being "computer illiterate". To some, it sounds like a technological world gone mad. To Mr Donofrio, it is a vision innovation that will happen. Behind this vision should be a rich robust network capability and "deep computing", says Mr Donofrio. Deep computing is the ability to perform lots of complex calculations on massive amounts of data, and integral to this concept is supercomputing. It has value, according to IBM, because it helps humans work out extremely complex problems to come up with valuable solutions, like how to refine millions of net search results, finding cures for diseases, or understanding of exactly how a gene or protein operates...But pervasive computing presumably means having technologies that are aware of diversity of contexts, commands, and requirements of a diverse world. As computing and technologies become part of the environment, part of furniture, walls, and clothing, physical space becomes a more important consideration...This is going to need a much broader range of skills and experience. "I am confident that the SET [science, engineering and technology] industry is going to be short on skills," he says. "If I am right about what innovation is, you need to be multidisciplinary and collaborative. "Women tend to have those traits a lot better than men." Eventually, women could win out in both life and physical sciences, he says. In the UK, a DTI-funded resource centre for women has set a target to have 40% representation on SET industry boards. IBM, according to Mr Donofrio, has 30%. "Our goal is for our research team to become the preferred organisation for women in science and technology to begin their career." The whole issue of global diversity is as much a business matter as it is a moral and social concern to Mr Donofrio. "We believe in the whole issue of global diversity," he says. "Our customers are diverse, our clients are diverse. They expect us to look like them. "As more and more women or underrepresented minorities succeed into leadership positions, it becomes and imperative for us to constantly look like them." | tech |
Firefox browser takes on Microsoft..Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a serious rival in the long-awaited Firefox 1.0 web browser, which has just been released...Few people get excited when some new software is released, especially when the program is not a game or a music or movie player. But the release of the first full version of Firefox has managed to drum up a respectable amount of pre-launch fervour. Fans of the software have banded together to raise cash to pay for an advert in the New York Times announcing that version 1.0 of the browser is available. The release of Firefox 1.0 on 9 November might even cause a few heads to turn at Microsoft because the program is steadily winning people away from the software giant's Internet Explorer browser...Firefox has been created by the Mozilla Foundation which was started by former browser maker Netscape back in 1998. Much of the development work done since then has gone into Firefox which made its first appearance under this name in February. Earlier incarnations, but which had the same core technology, were called Phoenix and Firebird. Since then the software has been gaining praise and converts, not least because of the large number of security problems that have come to light in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Rivals to IE got a boost in late June when two US computer security organisations warned people to avoid the Microsoft program to avoid falling victim to a serious vulnerability...Internet monitoring firm WebSideStory has charted the growing population of people using the Firefox browser and says it is responsible for slowly eroding the stranglehold of IE. Before July this year, according to WebSideStory, Internet Explorer was used by about 95% of web surfers. That figure had remained static for years. In July the IE using population dropped to 94.7% and by the end of October stood at 92.9%. The Mozilla Foundation claims that Firefox has been downloaded almost eight million times and has publicly said it would be happy to garner 10% of the Windows- using, net-browsing population. Firefox is proving popular because, at the moment, it has far fewer security holes than Internet Explorer and has some innovations lacking in Microsoft's program. For instance, Firefox allows the pages of different websites to be arranged as tabs so users can switch easily between them. It blocks pop-ups, has a neat way of finding text on a page and lets you search through the pages you have browsed...One of the most powerful features of Firefox is the many hundreds of extras, or extensions, produced for it. The Mozilla Foundation is an open source organisation which means that the creators of the browser are happy for others to play around with the core code for the program. This has resulted in many different add-ons or extensions for the browser which now include everything from a version of the familiar Google toolbar to a Homeland Security monitor that keep users aware of current threat levels. Firefox, which used to be called Firebird and before that Phoenix, also has a growing number of vocal net-based fans. A campaign co-ordinated by the Spread Firefox website attempted to raise the $50,000 needed for a full page advert in the New York Times. The campaign set itself a target of recruiting 2500 volunteers. Ten days in to the campaign 10,000 people had signed up and now about $250,000 has been raised. The ad is due to run sometime in a three-week period in late November/early December. The surplus cash will be used to help keep the Mozilla Foundation running. Microsoft is facing a growing challenge to IE's hold on the web using population. from alternative browsers such as Opera, Safari, Amaya and even Netscape. | tech |
Halo fans' hope for sequel..Xbox video game Halo 2 has been released in the US on 9 November, with a UK release two days later. Why is the game among the most anticipated of all time?..Halo is considered by many video game pundits to be one of the finest examples of interactive entertainment ever produced and more than 1.5 million people worldwide have pre-ordered the sequel. A science fiction epic, Halo centred the action on a human cyborg, controlled by the player, who had to save his crew from an alien horde after a crash landing on a strange and exotic world contained on the interior surface of a giant ring in space. Remembrance of Things Past it was not - but as a slice of schlock science fiction inspired by works such as Larry Niven's Ringworld and the film Starship Troopers, it fit the bill perfectly. Halo stood out from a crowd of similar titles - it was graphically impressive, had tremendous audio, using Dolby Digital, a decent storyline, instant playability and impressive physics...But what marked Halo as a classic were the thousands of details which brought a feeling of polish and the enormously-high production values not usually associated with video gaming...Produced by Bungie software, renowned for their innovation in gaming, it caused a stir among the gaming fraternity when the developer was bought by Microsoft and became an Xbox exclusive. Claude Errera, editor of fansite Halo.Bungie.Org, said: "Bungie got everything right. They were really careful to make sure everything worked the way it was supposed to. "Nothing distracts you when you were playing. There was nothing in Halo that had not been done before but everything in there was as good as it could be." He added: "Graphically it was superior to everything else out there..."It also had a depth to it that made it stand out." Halo was unusually immersive, sucking the player into the action and blurring the interface between screen and controller. It also capitalised on the growing popularity of LAN gaming in the PC world - for the first time it became easy to link multiple game consoles together, allowing up to 16 players to battle against each other at the same time...The game instantly cultivated an online following, which continues today with a score of Halo fan websites following every aspect of the sequel, Halo 2. Errera spends three to fours hours a day of his own time maintaining the hugely popular website, which attracts 600,000 page views a day from Halo fans eager for the latest news...When the Xbox launched on November 15 2001 in the US, Halo was one of the launch titles and had an immediate impact on critics and consumers. "Halo is the most important launch game for any console ever," wrote the influential Edge magazine in its review, giving it a rare 10 out of 10 mark. The game had its critics and while it is not a one-off original as a game, it brought many original touches and flourishes to the genre which have defined all other first person shooters since. "The first time I played it I just stood there watching the spent shells fall out of my gun," said Errera, remarking on the level of detail in the game...The game also inspired thousands of people to write their own fiction based on the storyline and produce downloadable video clips of the many weird and wonderful things that can be done in the game. "It blew me away the first time someone managed to climb to the top of Halo," said Errera, referring to a fan who had created a video of Master Chief scaling the landscape of the graphical world. Video clips of the more outrageous stunts that are possible thanks to the game's amazing physics engine are incredibly popular and some have attained a cult following. Speculation about the sequel has seen every titbit analysed and poured over with all the intent of a forensic scientist examining a body. When early screenshots of the game were released some people wrote essay-length articles highlighting everything from the texture of graphics to clues about the story line. Errera said expectations of the sequel among fans were sky high. "It does not feel like a game release any more. Somebody told me this was the biggest single release of any product in Microsoft's history. "We're all just hoping that Bungie has got it right again."..Halo 2 is out on 9 November in the US and 11 November in the UK | tech |
Players sought for $1m prize..UK gamers are getting a chance to take part in a $1m tournament thanks to one of the country's top teams...The Four-Kings clan is staging a Pop Idol type competition to find new members who can take on the world's best in the lucrative tournament. Four-Kings hopes the open qualifiers will turn up gamers good enough to beat all comers at the Painkiller game. Top players also get a contract with the Four-Kings team which will pay travelling expenses for the contest...UK gamers have until 12 November to register their interest in taking part and can sign up via the Four-Kings, Jolt.co.uk and Painkiller tournament websites. Philip Wride, who co-manages the Four-Kings team, said online qualifiers will be held from 16-28 November to find the best eight players of the Painkiller game. He said the clan was running the contest because Four-Kings does not currently have any players that excel at Painkiller. These eight players will be brought together in London on 3-5 December for the Bloodline Tournament that will find the best two players...The event will be filmed and the final cut made available online for others to watch. The movie is being put together by Simon Bysshe who has shot many other films about pro-gaming that have been widely shared online. Said Mr Bysshe: "Painkiller is a new game and the opportunity is there for a new player to step up." Painkiller has been described as a game that adds a few modern touches, such as improved graphics, to the old-fashioned first-person shooter. These two players will be put forward as the UK's entrants to the Cyberathlete Professional League $1m Painkiller contest that will take place throughout 2005. The event is being billed as the CPL World Tour and will be arranged around ten separate tournaments at different locations around the world. Travel expenses to all the stops on the tour will be paid by Four-Kings for the two UK players who make the grade. The top prize at each stop on the world tour will be $15,000. A further $150,000 will be given to the winner of the Grand Final due to be held in December 2005. Mr Wride said any gamer that wins a few tour stop tournaments and the grand final will have a very good year. The first stop on the world tour will be Istanbul, Turkey from 10-13 February. A total of $50,000 in cash prizes is on offer. The CPL has said that it picked a one-on-one game such as Painkiller to make it easier for spectators to follow the action. Counter-Strike, by far the most popular online game, pits teams against each other and can be confusing to follow if those watching are not familiar with the layout of the maps on which it is played. The decision to pick Painkiller was greeted with surprise by many gamers, as it was widely expected that Doom 3 would be chosen as the one-one-one title. | tech |
US top of supercomputing charts..The US has pushed Japan off the top of the supercomputing chart with IBM's prototype Blue Gene/L machine...It is being assembled for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, under the US Department of Energy. IBM test results show that Blue Gene/L has managed speeds of 70.72 teraflops. The previous top machine, Japan's NEC Earth Simulator, clocked up 35.86. The Top 500 list was announced on Monday and officially charts the fastest computers in the world...It is announced every six months and is worked out using an officially recognised mathematical speed test called Linpack which measures calculations per second...Once completed in 2005, Blue Gene/L will be more powerful than its current prototype. "Next year with the final Blue Gene, four times what it is this year, it is going to be a real step up and will be hard to beat," said Erich Strohmaier, one of the co-founders of the Top500 list. It will help scientists work out the safety, security and reliability requirements for the US's nuclear weapons stockpile, without the need for underground nuclear testing. It will also cut down on the amount of heat generated by the massive power, a big problem for supercomputers...In second place was Silicon Graphics' Columbia supercomputer based at the US space agency's (Nasa) Ames Research Center in California. The Linux-based machine was reported to have reached a top speed of 42.7 trillion calculations per second (teraflops) in October. It will be used to model flight missions, climate research, and aerospace engineering. The defeated Japanese contender, the Earth Simulator, which was listed in third place, losing the top spot it had held since June 2002. It is dedicated to climate modelling and simulating seismic activity...Since the first supercomputer, the Cray-1, was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, US, in 1976, computational speed has leaped 500,000 times. The Cray-1 was capable of 80 megaflops (80 million operations a second). The Blue Gene/L machine that will be completed next year will be five million times faster. Started in 1993, the Top 500 list is decided by a group of computer science academics from around the world. It is presented at the International Supercomputer Conference in Pittsburgh. | tech |
Text messages aid disaster recovery..Text messaging technology was a valuable communication tool in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia...The messages can get through even when the cell phone signal is too weak to sustain a spoken conversation. Now some are studying how the technology behind SMS could be better used during an emergency. Sanjaya Senanayake works for Sri Lankan television. The blogging world, though, might know him better by his online name, Morquendi. He was one of the first on the scene after the tsunami destroyed much of the Sri Lankan coast. Cell phone signals were weak. Land lines were unreliable. So Mr Senanayake started sending out text messages. The messages were not just the latest news they were also an on-the-ground assessment of "who needs what and where". Blogging friends in India took Mr Senanayake's text messages and posted them on a weblog called Dogs without Borders. Thousands around the world followed the story that unfolded in the text messages that he sent...And that's when Mr Senanayake started to wonder if SMS might be put to more practical use. "SMS networks can handle so much more traffic than the standard mobile phone call or the land line call," he says..."In every rural community, there's at least one person who has access to a mobile phone, or has a mobile phone, and can receive messages." Half a world away, in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, Taran Rampersad read Morquendi's messages. Mr Rampersad, who used to work in the military, knew how important on the ground communication can be in times of disaster. He wondered if there might be a way to automatically centralise text messages, and then redistribute them to agencies and people who might be able to help. Mr Rampersad said: "Imagine if an aid worker in the field spotted a need for water purification tablets, and had a central place to send a text message to that effect. "He can message the server, so the server can send out an e-mail message and human or machine moderators can e-mail aid agencies and get it out in the field." He added: "Or, send it at the same time to other people who are using SMS in the region, and they might have an excess of it, and be able to shift supplies to the right places."..Mr Rampersad and others had actually been thinking about such a system since Hurricane Ivan ravaged the Caribbean and the southern United States last September. Last week, he sent out e-mail messages asking for help in creating such a system for Asia...In only 72 hours, he found Dan Lane, a text message guru living in Britain. The pair, along with a group of dedicated techies, are creating what they call the Alert Retrieval Cache. The idea is to use open-source software - software can be used by anyone without commercial restraint - and a far-flung network of talent to create a system that links those in need with those who can help. "This is a classic smart mobs situation where you have people self-organizing into a larger enterprise to do things that benefit other people," says Paul Saffo, a director at the California-based Institute for the Future. "You may be halfway around the world from someone, but in cyberspace you're just one click or one e-mail away," he said, "That's put a whole new dimension on disaster relief and recovery, where often people halfway around the world can be more effective in making something happen precisely because they're not right on top of the tragedy." It is still very early days for the project, though. In an e-mail, Dan Lane calls it "an early proof of concept." Right now, the Alert Retrieval Cache can only take a text message and automatically upload it to a web-page, or distribute it to an e-mail list. In the near future, the group says it hopes to take in messages from people in affected areas, and use human moderators to take actions based on the content of those messages. But there's still another challenge. You have to get people to know that the system is there for them to use. "It's amazing how difficult it is to find someone to pass it along to, and say, look this is what we're trying to do and everything like that," says Mr Rampersad. "So the big problem right now is the same problem we're trying to solve - human communication." He is optimistic, however. He thinks that the Alert Retrieval Cache is an idea whose time has come and he hopes governments, too, will sit up and take notice. And he stands by his motto, courtesy of Michelangelo: criticise by creating...Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production. | tech |
Putting a face to 'Big Brother'..Literally putting a face on technology could be one of the keys to improving our interaction with hi-tech gadgets...Imagine a surveillance system that also presents a virtual embodiment of a person on a screen who can react to your behaviour, and perhaps even alert you to new e-mails. Basic versions of these so-called avatars already exist. Together with speech and voice recognition systems, they could replace the keyboard and mouse in the near future. Some of these ideas have been showcased at the London's Science Museum, as part of its Future Face exhibition...One such avatar is Jeremiah. It is a virtual man, which you can download for free and install in your computer...His creator, Richard Bowden, lecturer at the Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing at the University of Surrey, refers to Jeremiah as "him", rather than it. "Jeremiah is a virtual face that attempts to emulate humans in the way it responds to activity. He is very childlike, he likes visual stimulus," he told the BBC News website. "When he sees children running and laughing and waving at him, he smiles at them. If you ignore him, he gets angry. If you leave, he gets sad. And you can also even surprise him." Jeremiah is not actually intelligent. It works on vision, reacting in a preset way to the information provided by a surveillance tracker system. It is not able to talk or to hear you, at least not yet. The Surrey team is already working on Jeremiah's next version, that will replace the human face with an underwater and more interactive creature: Finn the fish. "I am interested in the interaction, providing the ability of a system to watch what's going on and make decisions based on that," explained Dr Bowden...The research comes at a time when people are having to cope with an increasing number of hi-tech gadgets...Experts say a much more natural way to interact with these devices, such as a virtual human, could make it much easier to make the most of all those new gizmos. "If you get up at three o'clock in the morning, and you go downstairs, there are probably two things you are going to do: either going to the bathroom, or maybe you are going to make a cup of tea," said Dr Bowden. "Now if the system can watch your behaviour over time, it can learn this, so it would predict what you are going to do, turn on the lights for you, or, before you even get to the kettle, it could have switched it on." You might even be able to tell your home surveillance system that you will be going away on holiday, and ask if it could make sure that the house is secure once you have left. This might sound like a scary vision of an Orwellian future. But it might all depend on the face that is watching you. "When we put the surveillance cameras in our centre, a lot of people were very unhappy about the fact that there was a system watching them," said Dr Bowden. "But when Jeremiah's camera went in, nobody minded, because although it's still watching them, they could see what it was watching." | tech |
Football Manager scores big time..For the past decade or so the virtual football fans among us will have become used to the annual helping of Championship Manager (CM). Indeed, it seems like there has been a CM game for as many years as there have been PCs...However, last year was the final time that developers Sports Interactive (SI) and publishers Eidos would work together. They decided to go their separate ways, and each kept a piece of the franchise. SI kept the game's code and database, and Eidos retained rights to the CM brand, and the look and feel of the game. So at the beginning of this year, fans faced a new situation. Eidos announced the next CM game, with a new team to develop it from scratch, whilst SI developed the existing code further to be released, with new publishers Sega, under the name Football Manager. So what does this mean? Well, Football Manager is the spiritual successor to the CM series, and it has been released earlier than expected. At this point CM5 looks like it will ship early next year. But given that Football Manager 2005 is by and large the game that everybody knows and loves, how does this new version shape up?..A game like FM2005 could blind you with statistics. It has an obscene number of playable leagues, an obscene number of manageable teams and a really obscene number of players and staff from around the world in the database, with stats faithfully researched and compiled by a loyal army of fans. But that does not do justice to the game really. What we are talking about is the most realistic and satisfying football management game to ever grace the Earth...You begin by picking the nations and leagues you want to manage teams from, for instance England and Scotland. That will give you a choice not just of the four main Scottish leagues, but the English Premiership all the way down to the Conference North and South. Of course you might be looking for European glory, or to get hold of Abramovich's millions, in which case you can take control at Chelsea, or even Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan ... the list goes on a very long way. Once in a team you will be told by the board what they expect of you. Sometimes it is promotion, or a place in Europe, sometimes it is consolidation or a brave relegation battle. It might even be a case of Champions or else. Obviously the expectations are linked to the team you choose, so choose wisely. Then it is time to look at your squad, work out your tactics, seeing how much cash, if any, you have got to splash, having a look at the transfer market, sorting out the training schedule and making sure your backroom staff are up to it. Then bring on the matches, which are once more available in the ever-improving top down 2D view. With the exception of the improved user interface on the surface, not much else seems to have changed...However, there have been a lot of changes under the bonnet as well - things like the manager mind-games, which let you talk to the media about the opposition bosses. The match engine is also much improved, and it is more of a joy than ever to watch. In fact just about every area of the game has been tweaked, and it leads to an ever more immersive experience...With a game that is so complex and so open-ended, there are of course a few glitches, but nowhere near the sorts of problems that have blighted previous releases. With so many calculations to perform the game can take some time to process in between matches, though there have been improvements in this area. And a sport like football, which is so high profile and unpredictable itself, can never be modelled quite to everybody's satisfaction. But this time around a great deal of hard work has been put in to ensure that any oddities that do crop up are cosmetic only, and do not affect gameplay. And if there are problems further down the line, Sports Interactive have indicated their usual willingness to support and develop the game as far as possible. In all there are many more tweaks and improvements. If you were a fan of the previous CM games, then FM2005 might make you forget there was anything else before it. If you are new to the genre but like the idea of trying to take Margate into the Premiership, Spurs into Europe, or even putting Rangers back on the top of the tree, FM2005 could be the best purchase you ever made. Just be warned that the family might not see you much at Christmas...Football Manager 2005 out now for the PC and the Mac | tech |
Musicians 'upbeat' about the net..Musicians are embracing the internet as a way of reaching new fans and selling more music, a survey has found...The study by US researchers, Pew Internet, suggests musicians do not agree with the tactics adopted by the music industry against file-sharing. While most considered file-sharing as illegal, many disagreed with the lawsuits launched against downloaders. "Even successful artists don't think the lawsuits will benefit musicians," said report author Mary Madden...For part of the study, Pew Internet conducted an online survey of 2,755 musicians, songwriters and music publishers via musician membership organisations between March and April 2004...They ranged from full-time, successful musicians to artists struggling to make a living from their music. "We looked at more of the independent musicians, rather than the rockstars of this industry but that reflects more accurately the state of the music industry," Ms Madden told the BBC News website. "We always hear the views of successful artists like the Britneys of the world but the less successful artists rarely get represented." The survey found that musicians were overwhelming positive about the internet, rather than seeing it as just a threat to their livelihood. Almost all of them used the net for ideas and inspiration, with nine out of 10 going online to promote, advertise and post their music on the web. More than 80% offered free samples online, while two-thirds sold their music via the net. Independent musicians, in particular, saw the internet as a way to get around the need to land a record contract and reach fans directly. "Musicians are embracing the internet enthusiastically," said Ms Madden. "They are using the internet to gain inspiration, sell it online, tracking royalties, learning about copyright."..Perhaps surprisingly, opinions about online file-sharing were diverse and not as clear cut as those of the record industry...Through the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it has pursued an aggressive campaign through the courts to sue people suspected of sharing copyrighted music. But the report suggests this campaign does not have the wholehearted backing of musicians in the US. It found that most artists saw file-sharing as both good and bad, though most agreed that it should be illegal. "Free downloading has killed opportunities for new bands to break without major funding and backing," said one musician quoted by the report. "It's hard to keep making records if they don't pay for themselves through sales." However 60% said they did not think the lawsuits against song swappers would benefit musicians and songwriters. Many suggested that rather than fighting file-sharing, the music industry needed to recognise the changes it has brought and embrace it. "Both successful and struggling musicians were more likely to say that the internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their music, rather than make it harder for them to protect their material from piracy," said Ms Madden. | tech |
Broadband takes on TV viewing..The number of Europeans with broadband has exploded over the past 12 months, with the web eating into TV viewing habits, research suggests...Just over 54 million people are hooked up to the net via broadband, up from 34 million a year ago, according to market analysts Nielsen/NetRatings. The total number of people online in Europe has broken the 100 million mark. The popularity of the net has meant that many are turning away from TV, say analysts Jupiter Research. It found that a quarter of web users said they spent less time watching TV in favour of the net..The report by Nielsen/NetRatings found that the number of people with fast internet access had risen by 60% over the past year...The biggest jump was in Italy, where it rose by 120%. Britain was close behind, with broadband users almost doubling in a year. The growth has been fuelled by lower prices and a wider choice of always-on, fast-net subscription plans. "Twelve months ago high speed internet users made up just over one third of the audience in Europe; now they are more than 50% and we expect this number to keep growing," said Gabrielle Prior, Nielsen/NetRatings analyst. "As the number of high-speed surfers grows, websites will need to adapt, update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones." The total number of Europeans online rose by 12% to 100 million over the past year, the report showed, with the biggest rise in France, Italy, Britain and Germany...The ability to browse web pages at high speed, download files such as music or films and play online games is changing what people do in their spare time...A study by analysts Jupiter Research suggested that broadband was challenging television viewing habits. In homes with broadband, 40% said they were spending less time watching TV. The threat to TV was greatest in countries where broadband was on the up, in particular the UK, France and Spain, said the report. It said TV companies faced a major long-term threat over the next five years, with broadband predicted to grow from 19% to 37% of households by 2009. "Year-on-year we are continuing to see a seismic shift in where, when and how Europe's population consume media for information and entertainment and this has big implications for TV, newspaper and radio," said Jupiter Research analyst Olivier Beauvillian. | tech |
Freeze on anti-spam campaign..A campaign by Lycos Europe to target spam-related websites appears to have been put on hold...Earlier this week the company released a screensaver that bombarded the sites with data to try to bump up the running costs of the websites. But the site hosting the screensaver now displays a pink graphic and the words "Stay tuned". No one at Lycos was available for comment on latest developments in its controversial anti-spam campaign...Lycos Europe's "Make love not spam" campaign was intended as a way for users to fight back against the mountain of junk mail flooding inboxes. People were encouraged to download the screensaver which, when their PC was idle, would then send lots of data to sites that peddle the goods and services mentioned in spam messages. Lycos said the idea was to get the spam sites running at 95% capacity and generate big bandwidth bills for the spammers behind the sites. But the plan has proved controversial...Monitoring firm Netcraft analysed response times for some of the sites targeted by the screensaver and found that a number were completely knocked offline...The downing of the sites could dent Lycos claims that what it is doing does not amount to a distributed denial of service attack. In such attacks thousands of computers bombard sites with data in an attempt to overwhelm them. Laws in many countries do not explicitly outlaw such attacks but many nations are re-drafting computer use laws to make them specific offences. Lycos Europe now appears to have put the plan on hold. The site hosting the screensaver currently shows a holding page, with the words, "Stay tuned". The numerical internet address of the site has also changed. This is likely to be in response to spammers who have reportedly redirected traffic from their sites back to the Lycos screensaver site. The campaign has come under fire from some corners of the web. Many discussion groups have said that it set a dangerous precedent and could incite vigilantism. "Attacking a spammer's website is like poking a grizzly bear sleeping in your back garden with a pointy stick," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Not only is this screensaver similar in its approach to a potentially illegal distributed denial of service attack, but it also is in danger of turning innocent computer users into vigilantes, who may not be prepared for whatever retaliation the spammers care to dream up." | tech |
ITunes user sues Apple over iPod..A user of Apple's iTunes music service is suing the firm saying it is unfair he can only use an iPod to play songs...He says Apple is breaking anti-competition laws in refusing to let other music players work with the site. Apple, which opened its online store in 2003 after launching the iPod in 2001, uses technology to ensure each song bought only plays on the iPod. Californian Thomas Slattery filed the suit in the US District Court in San Jose and is seeking damages..."Apple has turned an open and interactive standard into an artifice that prevents consumers from using the portable hard drive digital music player of their choice," the lawsuit states. The key to such a lawsuit would be convincing a court that a single brand like iTunes is a market in itself separate from the rest of the online music market, according to Ernest Gellhorn, an anti-trust law professor at George Mason University. "As a practical matter, the lower courts have been highly sceptical of such claims," Prof Gellhorn said. Apple has sold more than six million iPods since the gadget was launched and has an 87% share of the market for portable digital music players, market research firm NPD Group has reported...More than 200 million songs have been sold by the iTunes music store since it was launched. "Apple has unlawfully bundled, tied, and/or leveraged its monopoly in the market for the sale of legal online digital music recordings to thwart competition in the separate market for portable hard drive digital music players, and vice-versa," the lawsuit said. Mr Slattery called himself an iTunes customer who "was also forced to purchase an Apple iPod" if he wanted to take his music with him to listen to. A spokesman for Apple declined to comment. Apple's online music store uses a different format for songs than Napster, Musicmatch, RealPlayer and others. The rivals use the MP3 format or Microsoft's WMA format while Apple uses AAC, which it says helps thwart piracy. The WMA format also includes so-called Digital Rights Management which is used to block piracy. | tech |
Microsoft gets the blogging bug..Software giant Microsoft is taking the plunge into the world of blogging...It is launching a test service to allow people to publish blogs, or online journals, called MSN Spaces. Microsoft is trailing behind competitors like Google and AOL, which already offer services which make it easy for people to set up web journals. Blogs, short for web logs, have become a popular way for people to talk about their lives and express opinions online...MSN Spaces is free to anyone with a Hotmail or MSN Messenger account. People will be able to choose a layout for the page, upload images and share photo albums and music playlists. The service will be supported by banner ads. "This is a simple tool for people to express themselves," said MSN's Blake Irving. This is Microsoft's first foray into blogging, which has taken off as a web phenomenon in the past year. Competitors like Google already offer free services through its Blogger site, while AOL provides its members with journals. Accurate figures for the number of blogs in existence are hard to come by. According to blog analysis firm Technorati, the so-called blogosphere, has doubled every five and a half months for the last 18 months. It now estimates that the number of blogs in existence has exceeded 4.8 million, although some speculate that less than a quarter are regularly maintained. | tech |
Broadband fuels online change..Fast web access is encouraging more people to express themselves online, research suggests...A quarter of broadband users in Britain regularly upload content and have personal sites, according to a report by UK think-tank Demos. It said that having an always-on, fast connection is changing the way people use the internet. More than five million households in the UK have broadband and that number is growing fast...The Demos report looked at the impact of broadband on people's net habits. It found that more than half of those with broadband logged on to the web before breakfast. One in five even admitted to getting up in the middle of the night to browse the web...More significantly, argues the report, broadband is encouraging people to take a more active role online. It found that one in five post something on the net everyday, ranging from comments or opinions on sites to uploading photographs. "Broadband is putting the 'me' in media as it shifts power from institutions and into the hands of the individual," said John Craig, co-author of the Demos report. "From self-diagnosis to online education, broadband creates social innovation that moves the debate beyond simple questions of access and speed." The Demos report, entitled Broadband Britain: The End Of Asymmetry?, was commissioned by net provider AOL. "Broadband is moving the perception of the internet as a piece of technology to an integral part of home life in the UK," said Karen Thomson, Chief Executive of AOL UK, "with many people spending time on their computers as automatically as they might switch on the television or radio." According to analysts Nielsen//NetRatings, more than 50% of the 22.8 million UK net users regularly accessing the web from home each month are logging on at high speed They spend twice as long online than people on dial-up connections, viewing an average of 1,444 pages per month. The popularity of fast net access is growing, partly fuelled by fierce competition over prices and services. | tech |
'Blog' picked as word of the year..The term "blog" has been chosen as the top word of 2004 by a US dictionary publisher...Merriam-Webster said "blog" headed the list of most looked-up terms on its site during the last twelve months. During 2004 blogs, or web logs, have become hugely popular and some have started to influence mainstream media. Other words on the Merriam-Webster list were associated with major news events such as the US presidential election or natural disasters that hit the US...Merriam-Webster defines a blog as: "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks". Its list of most looked-up words is drawn up every year and it discounts terms such as swear words, that everyone likes to look up, or those that always cause problems, such as "affect" and "effect"...Merriam-Webster said "blog" was the word that people have asked to be defined or explained most often over the last 12 months. The word will now appear in the 2005 version of Merriam-Webster's printed dictionary. However, the word is already included in some printed versions of the Oxford English Dictionary. A spokesman for the Oxford University Press said that the word was now being put into other dictionaries for children and learners, reflecting its mainstream use. "I think it was the word of last year rather than this year," he said. "Now we're getting words that derive from it such as 'blogosphere' and so on," he said. "But," he added, "it's a pretty recent thing and in the way that this happens these days it's got established very quickly."..Blogs come in many different forms. Many act as news sites for particular groups or subjects, some are written from a particular political slant and others are simply lists of interesting sites. Other terms in the top 10 were related to natural disasters that have struck the US, such as "hurricane" or were to do with the US election. Words such as "incumbent", "electoral" and "partisan" reflected the scale of interest in the vote. Blogs also proved very useful to both sides in the US election battle because many pundits who maintain their own journals were able to air opinions that would never appear in more mainstream media. Speculation that President Bush was getting help during debates via a listening device was first aired on web logs. Online journals also raised doubts about documents used by US television news organisation CBS in a story about President Bush's war record. The immediacy of many blogs also helped some wield influence over topics that made it in to national press...This is despite the fact that the number of people reading even the most influential blogs is tiny. Statistics by web influence ranking firm HitWise reveal that the most popular political blog racks up only 0.0051% of all net visits per day. One of the reasons that blogs and regularly updated online journals have become popular is because the software used to put them together make it very easy for people to air their views online. According to blog analysis firm Technorati the number of blogs in existence, the blogosphere, has doubled every five and a half months for the last 18 months. Technorati now estimates that the number of blogs in existence has exceeded 4.8 million. Some speculate that less than a quarter of this number are regularly maintained. According to US research firm Pew Internet & American Life a blog is created every 5.8 seconds. Another trend this year has been the increasing numbers of weblogs that detail the daily lives of many ordinary workers in jobs that few people know much about. In many repressive regimes and developing nations, blogs have been embraced by millions of people keen to give their plight a voice. | tech |
New Year's texting breaks record..A mobile phone was as essential to the recent New Year's festivities as a party mood and Auld Lang Syne, if the number of text messages sent is anything to go by...Between midnight on 31 December and midnight on 1 January, 133m text messages were sent in the UK. It is the highest ever daily total recorded by the Mobile Data Association (MDA). It represents an increase of 20% on last year's figures...Wishing a Happy New Year to friends and family via text message has become a staple ingredient of the year's largest party. While texting has not quite overtaken the old-fashioned phone call, it is heading that way, said Mike Short, chairman of the MDA. "In the case of a New Years Eve party, texting is useful if you are unable to speak or hear because of a noisy background," he said. There were also lots of messages sent internationally, where different time zones made traditional calls unfeasible, he said. The British love affair with texting shows no signs of abating and the annual total for 2004 is set to exceed 25bn, according to MDA. The MDA predicts that 2005 could see more than 30bn text messages sent in the UK. "We thought texting might slow down as MMS took off but we have seen no sign of that," said Mr Short. More and more firms are seeing the value in mobile marketing. Restaurants are using text messages to tell customers about special offers and promotions...Anyone in need of a bit of January cheer now the party season is over, can use a service set up by Jongleurs comedy club, which will text them a joke a day. For those still wanting to drink and be merry as the long days of winter draw in, the Good Pub Guide offers a service giving the location and address of their nearest recommended pub. Users need to text the word GOODPUB to 85130. If they want to turn the evening into a pub crawl, they simply text the word NEXT. And for those still standing at the end of the night, a taxi service in London is available via text, which will locate the nearest available black cab. | tech |
DS aims to touch gamers..The mobile gaming industry is set to explode in 2005 with a number of high-profile devices offering a range of gaming and other features such as movie and music playback. Market leader Nintendo, however, is releasing a handheld console that it says will revolutionise the way games are played...The first striking thing about the DS is how retro it looks. Far from looking like a mould-breaking handheld, it looks more like Nintendo dug out a mould from a 1980s handheld prototype. The lightweight clam shell device opens up to reveal two screens, and when switched on it instantly reveals its pedigree. Both screens are crisp and clear while the bottom of the two is touch sensitive. Nintendo has given developers free rein to utilise the dual screens and ability to control the action by simply touching the screen...The Japanese gaming giant hopes the DS will maintain the firm's pre-eminence in an increasingly-competitive mobile gaming market...Nintendo first launched its GameBoy console in 1989 and has dominated the market ever since. But its lead can no longer be taken for granted. Sony will enter the market later this year with its PlayStation Portable, while start-up companies Gizmondo and Tapwave Zodiac are also offering hybrid devices. "We believe the DS will appeal to all ages, both genders and gamers of any skill," said David Yarnton, Nintendo Europe's general manager said at the recent press launch for the handheld. With its two screens, wireless connectivity and backwards compatibility with the GameBoy Advance, the DS certainly has a number of unique selling points. It went on sale in the US in mid-November priced $150 and Nintendo says sales have exceeded expectations, without giving detailed figures. Japan and Europe will have to wait until the first quarter of 2005 to get the device. With more than two million pre-orders for the device in Japan, Nintendo is confident it will keep its number one spot. But will the device prove to be as revolutionary as claimed? The game ships with a demo of Metroid Hunters - a 3D action title which can be played alone or with a group of friends using the machine's wireless capabilities. It certainly looks impressive on the small machine and plays smoothly even with a group of people...The game can be controlled by using the supplied stylus to aim. The top screen is used to navigate the action while the bottom screen offers a top-down map and the ability to switch weapons. It is certainly a unique control method and while it makes aiming more controlled it can be a little disorientating. Super Mario 64 DS is a faithful re-creation of the Nintendo 64 classic with a host of new mini-games and new levels. The game looks stunning on the portable machine and the sound too is impressive for such a small machine. One thing is for certain. Hardened gamers will have to learn to adapt to a new way of playing while it could prove to be an accessible way in to gaming for novices, Ultimately the success or failure of the device lies in the hands of developers. If they manage to create titles which use the Nintendo DS's key features then a whole new market of gamers could open up. The fear is that the touch screen and voice recognition are treated as little more than gimmicks. | tech |
No half measures with Half-Life 2..Could Half-Life 2 possibly live up to the hype? After almost two years of tantalising previews and infuriating delays it's safe to say that this is the most highly-anticipated computer game of all time...Fortunately, it doesn't merely live up to its promise, but exceeds it. No-one who plays the finished product will wonder why it took so long. The impression is of a game that has been endlessly refined to get as close to perfection as could realistically be hoped. All the money - or indeed time - is on the screen. The player sees things through the eyes of Gordon Freeman, the bespectacled scientist who starred in the original 1998 Half-Life. Having survived that skirmish in an desolate monster-infested research facility, he's back in another foreboding troublespot - the enigmatic City 17. It has the look of a beautiful Eastern European city, but as soon as your train pulls in to the station, it's clear that all is not well here. Sinister police patrol the unkempt streets, and the oppressive atmosphere clobbers you like a sledgehammer. A casual smattering of the nightmarish creatures from the first game makes this an even less pleasant place to be...You are herded around like a prisoner and have to mingle with a few freedom-fighting civilians to gather information and progress in your task. It is not immediately explained what your objectives are, nor precisely why everything is so ravaged. Finding out step-by-step is all part of the experience, although you never fully get to understand what it was all about. That does not really matter. HL2 does not waste energy blinding you with plot. Underplaying the narrative in this way is gloriously effective, and immerses the player in the most vivid, convincing and impressive virtual world they are likely to have seen. There are no cut-scenes to interrupt the flow. Exposition is accomplished by other characters stopping to talk directly to you...Whereas the highly impressive Doom III felt like a top-notch theme park thrill-ride, wandering through Half-Life's world truly does feel like being part of a movie...Considering its sophistication, the game runs surprisingly well on computers that only just match the modest minimum specifications. But if ever there was an incentive to upgrade your PC's components, this is it. On our test machine - an Alienware system with an Athlon 3500+ processor and ATI's Radeon X800 video card - everything ran at full quality without trouble, and the visual experience was simply jaw-dropping. It is not simply that the surfaces, textures and light effects push the technical envelope without mercy, but that such care and artistic flair has gone into designing them. The haunting, grim landscapes become strangely beautiful. Luckily you get time to pause mid-task and marvel at the awesome graphical flourishes of your surroundings. So impressive are the physics that you'll find yourself hurling bits of rubbish around and prodding floating corpses just to marvel at the lifelike way they move. There are puzzles to be solved along the way, pitched at about the right difficulty, but most progress is achieved by force. Freeman is quickly reunited with the original game's famous crowbar, and an array of more sophisticated weapons soon follow...Virtually anything not nailed to the floor can be interacted with, and in realistic fashion. You will be wowed by the attention-to-detail as you chip bits of plaster off walls, chase a pigeon out of your way, or dodge exploding barrels as they ping around at deadly speed. At times Half-Life 2 feels like one of those annoying people who are unfeasibly brilliant at everything they turn their hand to, and in a curious way, its unrelenting goodness actually becomes almost tiresome. Running around on foot is great enough, but jumping into vehicles proves even more fun. Human foes are rendered just as well as alien ones. The stealth sections are as exhilarating as the open gun battles. In gameplay terms, HL2 somehow gets almost everything perfect. And without resorting to the zombies-leaping-out-of-shadows approach of Doom III, it's all incredibly unsettling. The vacant environment is distinctly eerie, and at one point I even caught myself hesitating to go down a murky tunnel for fear of what might be inside...The game does have a couple of problems. Firstly, the carefully-scripted way that you progress through each level might irk some people...A lot of things are meticulously choreographed to happen on cue, which makes for exciting moments, but may be an annoyance to some players and limit the appeal of playing again once you've completed it. If you like things open-ended and free-ranging, Far Cry will be a lot more pleasing. But the real downside is the hassle of getting the game to run. Installing it proved a life-draining siege that would test a saint's patience. Developer Valve has rashly assumed that everyone wanting to play the game will have an internet connection and it forces you to go online to authenticate your copy. The box does warn you of this anti-piracy measure, but does not say just how many components have to be downloaded. The time spent doing this will depend on your connection speed, the temperamental Valve servers and the time of day, but it can take hours. It would take a mighty piece of work to feel worthwhile after such annoyances - but luckily, Half-Life 2 is up to the challenge. It is surely the best thing in its genre, and possibly, many will feel, of any genre. The bar has been raised, and so far out of sight that you have to sympathise with any game that tries to do anything remotely similar in the near future...Half-Life 2 is out now for the PC | tech |
Games win for Blu-ray DVD format..The next-generation DVD format Blu-ray is winning more supporters than its rival, according to its backers...Blu-ray, backed by 100 firms including Sony, is competing against Toshiba and NEC-backed HD-DVD to be the format of choice for future films and games. The Blu-Ray Association said on Thursday that games giants Electronic Arts and Vivendi would both support its DVD format. The next generation of DVDs will hold high-definition video and sound. This offers incredible 3D-like quality of pictures which major Hollywood studios and games publishers are extremely keen to exploit in the coming year. In a separate press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Toshiba announced that DVD players for its technology would be on the market by the end of 2005..."As we move from standard definition video images to high-definition images, we have a much greater need for storage," Richard Doherty, from Panasonic's Hollywood Laboratories, one of the pioneers of Blu-ray, told the BBC news website. "So by utilising blue laser-based technology we can make an optical laser disc that can hold six times as much as today's DVD." A Blu-ray disc will be able to store 50GB of high-quality data, while Toshiba's HD-DVD will hold 30GB. Mr Doherty added that it was making sure the discs could satisfy all high-definition needs, including the ability to record onto the DVDs and smaller discs to fit into camcorders. Both Toshiba and Blu-ray are hopeful that the emerging DVD format war, akin to the Betamax and VHS fight in the 1980s, can be resolved over the next year when next-generation DVD players start to come out. When players do come out, they will be able to play standard DVDs too, which is good news for those who have huge libraries of current DVDs...But the support from Vivendi and Electronics Arts is a big boost to Blu-ray in the battle for supremacy...Gaming is a $20 billion industry worldwide, so is as crucial as the film industry in terms of money to be made. "The technical requirement for game development today demands more advanced optical-disc technologies," said Michael Heilmann, chief technology officer for Vivendi Universal. "Blu-ray offers the capacity, performance and high-speed internet connectivity to take us into the future of gaming." EA, a leading games developer and publisher, added that the delivery of high-definition games of the future was vital and Blu-ray had the capacity, functionality and interactivity needed for the kinds of projects it was planning. Sony recently announced it would be using the technology in its next generation of PlayStations. Mr Doherty said gamers were "ravenous" for high-quality graphics and technology for the next generation of titles. "Gamers, especially those working on PCs, are always focused on more capacity to deliver textures, deeper levels, for delivering higher-resolution playback."..He added: "The focus for games moving forward on increased immersion..."Gaming companies really like to focus on creating a world which involves creating complicated 3D models and textures and increasing the resolution, increasing the frame rate - all of these are part of getting a more immersive experience." Fitting these models on current DVD technologies means compressing the graphics so much that much of this quality is lost. As games move to more photo-real capability, the current technology is limiting. "They are thrilled at the advanced capacity to start to build these immersive environments," said Mr Doherty. Currently, graphics-intensive PC games also require multiple discs for installation. High-definition DVDs will cut down on that need. Likewise, consoles rely on single discs, so DVDs that can hold six times more data mean much better, high-resolution games. Blu-ray has already won backing from major Hollywood studios, such as MGM Studios, Disney, and Buena Vista, as well as top technology firms like Dell, LG, Samsung and Phillips amongst others. While Toshiba's HD-DVD technology has won backing from Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. "The real world benefits (of HD-DVD) are apparent and obvious," said Jim Cardwell, president of Warner Home Video. Mr Cardwell added that rapid time to market and dependability were significant factors in choosing to go with HD-DVD. Both formats are courting Microsoft to be the format of choice for the next generation Xbox, but discussions are still on-going. Next generation DVDs will also be able to store images and other data. CES is the largest consumer electronics show in the world, and runs from 6 to 9 January. | tech |
File-swappers ready new network..Legal attacks on websites that help people swap pirated films have forced the development of a system that could be harder to shut down...One site behind the success of the BitTorrent file-swapping system is producing its own software that avoids the pitfalls of the earlier program. A test version of the new Exeem program will be released in late January. But doubts remain about the new networks ability to ensure files being swapped are "quality copies"...In late December movie studios launched a legal campaign against websites that helped people swap pirated movies using the BitTorrent network. The legal campaign worked because of the way that BitTorrent is organised. That file-sharing system relies on links called "trackers" that point users to others happy to share the file they are looking for. Shutting down sites that listed trackers crippled the BitTorrent network. One of the sites shut down by the legal campaign was suprnova.org which helped boost the popularity of the BitTorrent system by checking that trackers led to the movies or TV programmes they claimed to...Now the man behind suprnova.org, who goes by the nickname Sloncek, is preparing to release software for a new file-swapping network dubbed Exeem. In an interview with Novastream web radio, Sloncek said Exeem would combine ideas from the BitTorrent and Kazaa file-sharing systems. Like BitTorrent, Exeem will have trackers that help point people toward the file they want. Like Kazaa these trackers will be held by everyone. There will be no centrally maintained list. This, said Sloncek, should make the system less vulnerable to legal action aimed at stopping people swapping pirated movies and music. The Exeem software has been under development for a few months and is currently being tested by a closed group of users. An early public version of the software should be available before February. Sloncek said that currently only a Windows version of the software was in development. There were no plans for a Linux or Mac version. He said that costs of writing the software will be paid for by adverts appearing in the finished version of the program. Despite Suprnova administrator Sloncek's involvement with Exeem, the basic technology appears to have been developed by a firm called Swarm Systems that is based on Caribbean island Saint Kitts and Nevis...Users of the Exeem system will be able to rate files being swapped to help stop the spread of fake files, Sloncek told Novastream...Dr Johan Pouwelse, a researcher at the Delft University of Technology who studies peer-to-peer networks, said Exeem was the next evolution in file-sharing systems. But, he said, it would struggle to be as popular as BitTorrent and Suprnova because early versions were not taking enough care to make sure good copies of files were being shared. "Exeem cannot prevent pollution," he said. "The rating system in Exeem seems flawed because it is easy to insert both fake files and fake ratings," he said. Studies have shown that organisations working for record labels and movie studios have worked to undermine Kazaa by putting in fakes. By contrast moderators on Suprnova made sure files being shared were high quality. "The moderators are the difference between having a system that works and one that's full of crap like Kazaa," he said. "There is a fundamental tension between distribution and integrity," he said. Mr Pouwelse said that future versions of file-sharing systems are likely to incorporate some kind of distributed reputation system that lets moderators prove who they are to the network and rate which files are worth downloading. When big files were being shared moderation systems were key, said Mr Pouwelse. He added that the legal attacks on BitTorrent had driven people away from sites such as Suprnova but many users had simply migrated to other tracker listing sites many of which have seen huge increases in traffic. "It's hard to compete with free," he said. No-one from the Motion Picture Association of America was immediately available for comment on the file-sharing development. | tech |
Online games play with politics..After bubbling under for some time, online games broke through onto the political arena in 2004...The US presidential election provided a showcase for many, aimed at talking directly to a generation that has grown up with joysticks and gamepads. Experts say this reflects how video games are becoming a mainstream part of culture and society. The first official political campaign game was technically launched during the last week of 2003: the Iowa Game, commissioned by the Democrat hopeful Howard Dean. More than 20 followed suit, including Frontrunner, eLections, President Forever and The Political Machine, which allowed players to run an entire presidential campaign, including having to cope with the media. Others helped raise the stakes during the Bush/Kerry contest by highlighting a candidate's virtues or his vices...The phenomenon has astonished the forefathers of political games, a handful of multi-discipline games enthusiasts keen to push frontiers..."When I started researching political games at the university, about five years ago, I thought it was going to be something that would take decades to happen," said Gonzalo Frasca, computer games specialist at the Information Technology University of Copenhagen. "I must admit that I was the first person to be surprised at seeing how fast they have evolved," added the Uruguayan-born researcher, who has so far created games for two political campaigns. Many artists and designers are experimenting with this form of gaming with an agenda in projects such as newsgaming.com. The aim is to comment on international news events via games...The ability of games to simulate reality makes them a powerful modelling tool to interact with actual situations in an original way..."Video games generate strong reactions mainly because they are new, but also because our culture needs to learn how to deal with simulation," Mr Frasca told the BBC News website. This was the case with the one he created for a political party in Uruguay, Cambiemos, an online puzzle game that offered a view on how the country's problems could be solved by working together. "It's up to us to explore what we can learn from ourselves through play and video games." Ultimately, Dr Frasca sees games as a small laboratory where we can play with our hopes, fears and beliefs. "Children learn a lot about the world through play. There is no reason why we adults should stop doing it as we grow up."..But experts estimate it will still take at least about a decade until this new breed of video gaming communication become a common tool for political campaigns...This is hardly surprising, compared to other forms of mass media like the worldwide web. Only a few years ago, most politicians did not have a webpage, while now it is almost a must-have. Dr Frasca said: "Political campaigns will continue to experiment with video games. They represent a new tool of communication that can reach a younger audience in a language that can clearly speak to them." "It will not replace other forms of political propaganda, but it will integrate itself on to the media ecology of political campaigns." | tech |
Broadband challenges TV viewing..The number of Europeans with broadband has exploded over the past 12 months, with the web eating into TV viewing habits, research suggests...Just over 54 million people are hooked up to the net via broadband, up from 34 million a year ago, according to market analysts Nielsen/NetRatings. The total number of people online in Europe has broken the 100 million mark. The popularity of the net has meant that many are turning away from TV, say analysts Jupiter Research. It found that a quarter of web users said they spent less time watching TV in favour of the net..The report by Nielsen/NetRatings found that the number of people with fast internet access had risen by 60% over the past year...The biggest jump was in Italy, where it rose by 120%. Britain was close behind, with broadband users almost doubling in a year. The growth has been fuelled by lower prices and a wider choice of always-on, fast-net subscription plans. "Twelve months ago high speed internet users made up just over one third of the audience in Europe; now they are more than 50% and we expect this number to keep growing," said Gabrielle Prior, Nielsen/NetRatings analyst. "As the number of high-speed surfers grows, websites will need to adapt, update and enhance their content to retain their visitors and encourage new ones." The total number of Europeans online rose by 12% to 100 million over the past year, the report showed, with the biggest rise in France, Italy, Britain and Germany...The ability to browse web pages at high speed, download files such as music or films and play online games is changing what people do in their spare time...A study by analysts Jupiter Research suggested that broadband was challenging television viewing habits. In homes with broadband, 40% said they were spending less time watching TV. The threat to TV was greatest in countries where broadband was on the up, in particular the UK, France and Spain, said the report. It said TV companies faced a major long-term threat over the next five years, with broadband predicted to grow from 19% to 37% of households by 2009. "Year-on-year we are continuing to see a seismic shift in where, when and how Europe's population consume media for information and entertainment and this has big implications for TV, newspaper and radio," said Jupiter Research analyst Olivier Beauvillian. | tech |
Freeze on anti-spam campaign..A campaign by Lycos Europe to target spam-related websites appears to have been put on hold...Earlier this week the company released a screensaver that bombarded the sites with data to try to bump up the running costs of the websites. But the site hosting the screensaver now displays a pink graphic and the words "Stay tuned". No one at Lycos was available for comment on latest developments in its controversial anti-spam campaign...Lycos Europe's "Make love not spam" campaign was intended as a way for users to fight back against the mountain of junk mail flooding inboxes. People were encouraged to download the screensaver which, when their PC was idle, would then send lots of data to sites that peddle the goods and services mentioned in spam messages. Lycos said the idea was to get the spam sites running at 95% capacity and generate big bandwidth bills for the spammers behind the sites. But the plan has proved controversial...Monitoring firm Netcraft analysed response times for some of the sites targeted by the screensaver and found that a number were completely knocked offline...The downing of the sites could dent Lycos claims that what it is doing does not amount to a distributed denial of service attack. In such attacks thousands of computers bombard sites with data in an attempt to overwhelm them. Laws in many countries do not explicitly outlaw such attacks but many nations are re-drafting computer use laws to make them specific offences. Lycos Europe now appears to have put the plan on hold. The site hosting the screensaver currently shows a holding page, with the words, "Stay tuned". The numerical internet address of the site has also changed. This is likely to be in response to spammers who have reportedly redirected traffic from their sites back to the Lycos screensaver site. The campaign has come under fire from some corners of the web. Many discussion groups have said that it set a dangerous precedent and could incite vigilantism. "Attacking a spammer's website is like poking a grizzly bear sleeping in your back garden with a pointy stick," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Not only is this screensaver similar in its approach to a potentially illegal distributed denial of service attack, but it also is in danger of turning innocent computer users into vigilantes, who may not be prepared for whatever retaliation the spammers care to dream up." | tech |
Halo 2 sells five million copies..Microsoft is celebrating bumper sales of its Xbox sci-fi shooter, Halo 2...The game has sold more than five million copies worldwide since it went on sale in mid-November, the company said. Halo 2 has proved popular online, with gamers notching up a record 28 million hours playing the game on Xbox Live. According to Microsoft, nine out of 10 Xbox Live members have played the game for an average of 91 minutes per session...The sequel to the best-selling Need for Speed: Underground has inched ahead of the competition to take the top slot in the official UK games charts. The racing game moved up one spot to first place, nudging GTA: San Andreas down to second place. Halo 2 dropped one place to five, while Half-Life 2 fell to number nine. Last week's new releases, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent and Killzone, both failed to make it into the top 10, debuting at number 11 and 12 respectively...Record numbers of Warcraft fans are settling in the games online world. On the opening day of the World of Warcraft massive multi-player online game more than 200,000 players signed up to play. On the evening of the first day more than 100,000 players were in the world, forcing Blizzard to add another 34 servers to cope with the influx. The online game turns the stand alone Warcraft games into a persistent world that players can inhabit not just visit..Europe's gamers could be waiting until January to hear when they can get their mitts on Nintendo's handheld device, Nintendo DS, says gamesindustry.biz. David Yarnton, Nintendo UK general manager, told a press conference to look out for details in the New Year. Its US launch was on Sunday and it goes on sale in Japan on 2 December. Nintendo has a 95% share of the handheld gaming market and said it expected to sell around five million of the DS by March 2005. | tech |
When technology gets personal..In 2020, whipping out your mobile phone to make a call will be quaintly passé. By then phones will be printed directly on to wrists, or other parts of the body, says Ian Pearson, BT's resident futurologist...It's all part of what's known as a "pervasive ambient world", where "chips are everywhere". Mr Pearson does not have a crystal ball. His job is to formulate ideas based on what science and technology are doing now, to guide industries into the future. Inanimate objects will start to interact with us: we will be surrounded - on streets, in homes, in appliances, on our bodies and possibly in our heads - by things that "think". Forget local area networks - these will be body area networks. Ideas about just how smart, small, or even invisible, technology will get are always floating around. Images of devices clumsily bolted on to heads or wrists have pervaded thinking about future technology. But now a new vision is surfacing, where smart fabrics and textiles will be exploited to enhance functionality, form, or aesthetics. Such materials are already starting to change how gadgets and electronics are used and designed...So MP3 players - the mass gadget of the moment - will disappear and instead become integrated into one's clothing, says Mr Pearson. "So the gadgets that fill up your handbag, when we integrate those into fabric, we can actually get rid of all that stuff. You won't necessarily see the electronics." Wearable technology could exploit body heat to charge it up, while "video tattoos", or intelligent electronic contact lenses, might function as TV screens for those on the move. However, this future of highly personal devices, where technology is worn, or even fuses with the body itself, raises ethical questions. If technology is going to be increasingly part of clothing, jewellery, and skin, there needs to be some serious thinking about what it means for us as humans, says Baroness Susan Greenfield. At a recent conference for technology, engineering, academic and fashion industry experts, at the Royal Society in London, neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield cautioned we "can't just sleepwalk into the future"...Yet this technology is already upon us. Researchers have developed computers and sensors worn in clothing. MP3 jackets, based on the idea that electrically conductive fabric can connect to keyboard sewn into sleeves, have already appeared in shops...These "smart fabrics" have come about through advances in nano- and micro-engineering - the ability to manipulate and exploit materials at micro or molecular scale. At the nanoscale, materials can be "tuned" to display unusual properties that can be exploited to build faster, lighter, stronger and more efficient devices and systems. The textile and clothing industry has been one of the first to exploit nanotechnology in quite straightforward ways. Many developments are appearing in real products in the fields of medicine, defence, healthcare, sports, and communications. Professional swimming suits reduce drag by incorporating tiny structures similar to shark skin. Nanoscale titanium dioxide (TiO2) coatings give fabrics antibacterial and anti-odour properties. These have special properties which can be activated in contact with the air or UV light. Such coatings have already been used to stop socks smelling for instance, to turn airline seats into super stain-resistant surfaces, and applied to windows so they clean themselves. Dressings for wounds can now incorporate nanoparticles with biocidal properties and smart patches are being developed to deliver drugs through the skin. But Baroness Greenfield is concerned about how far this more personal contact with technology might affect our very being. If our clothing, skin, and "personal body networks" do the talking and the monitoring, everywhere we go, we have to think about what that means for our concept of privacy. Mr Pearson picks up the theme, pointing out there are a lot of issues humans have to iron out before we become "cyborgian". His main concern is "privacy". "We are looking at electronics which are really in deep contact with your body and a lot of that information you really don't want every passer-by to know. "So we have to make sure we build security in this. If you are wearing smart make-up, where electronics are controlling the appearance, you don't want people hacking in and writing messages on your forehead." As technology infiltrates our biology, how will our brains function differently? "We cannot arrogantly assume that the human brain will not change with this," warns Baroness Greenfield. There have already been successful experiments to grow human nerve cells on circuit boards. This paves the way for brain implants to help paralysed people interface directly with computers. Clearly, the organic, carbon of our bodies and silicon is increasingly merging. The cyborg - a very familiar part-human, part-inorganic science fiction and academic idea - is on its way. | tech |
Microsoft gets the blogging bug..Software giant Microsoft is taking the plunge into the world of blogging...It is launching a test service to allow people to publish blogs, or online journals, called MSN Spaces. Microsoft is trailing behind competitors like Google and AOL, which already offer services which make it easy for people to set up web journals. Blogs, short for web logs, have become a popular way for people to talk about their lives and express opinions online...MSN Spaces is free to anyone with a Hotmail or MSN Messenger account. People will be able to choose a layout for the page, upload images and share photo albums and music playlists. The service will be supported by banner ads. "This is a simple tool for people to express themselves," said MSN's Blake Irving. This is Microsoft's first foray into blogging, which has taken off as a web phenomenon in the past year. Competitors like Google already offer free services through its Blogger site, while AOL provides its members with journals. Accurate figures for the number of blogs in existence are hard to come by. According to blog analysis firm Technorati, the so-called blogosphere, has doubled every five and a half months for the last 18 months. It now estimates that the number of blogs in existence has exceeded 4.8 million, although some speculate that less than a quarter are regularly maintained. | tech |
Doors open at biggest gadget fair..Thousands of technology lovers and industry experts have gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES)...The fair showcases the latest technologies and gadgets that will hit the shops in the next year. About 50,000 new products will be unveiled as the show unfolds. Microsoft chief Bill Gates is to make a pre-show keynote speech on Wednesday when he is expected to announce details of the next generation Xbox...The thrust of this year's show will be on technologies which put people in charge of multimedia content so they can store, listen to, and watch what they want on devices any time, anywhere. About 120,000 people are expected to attend the trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet. Highlights will include the latest trends in digital imaging, storage technologies, thinner flat screen and high-definition TVs, wireless and portable technologies, gaming, and broadband technologies. The show also includes several speeches from key technology companies such as Intel, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard among others. "The story this year remains all about digital and how that is completely transforming and revolutionising products and the way people interact with them," Jeff Joseph, from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) told the BBC News website. "It is about personalisation - taking your MP3 player and creating your own playlist, taking your digital video recorder and watch what you want to watch when - you are no longer at the whim of the broadcasters."..Consumer electronics and gadgets had a phenomenal year in 2004, according to figures released by CES organisers, the CEA, on Tuesday. The gadget explosion signalled the strongest growth yet in the US in 2004. Shipments of consumer electronics rose by almost 11% between 2003 and 2004. That trend is predicted to continue, according to CEA analysts, with wholesale shipments of consumer technologies expected to grow by 11% again in 2005. The fastest-growing technologies in 2004 included blank DVD media, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs, digital video recorders (DVRs), and portable music players. "This year we will really begin to see that come to life in what we call place shifting - so if you have your PVR [personal video recorder] in your living room, you can move that content around the house. "Some exhibitors will be showcasing how you can take that content anywhere," said Mr Joseph. He said the products which will be making waves in the next year will be about the "democratisation" of content - devices and technologies that will give people the freedom to do more with music, video, and images. There will also be more focus on the design of technologies, following the lead that Apple's iPod made, with ease of use and good looks which appeal to a wider range of people a key concern...The CEA predicted that there would be several key technology trends to watch in the coming year. Gaming would continue to thrive, especially on mobile devices, and would reach out to more diverse gamers such as women. Games consoles sales have been declining, but the launch of next generation consoles, such as Microsoft's Xbox and PlayStation, could buoy up sales. Although it has been widely predicted that Mr Gates would be showcasing the new Xbox, some media reports have cast doubt on what he would be talking about in the keynote. Some have suggested the announcement may take place at the Games Developers Conference in the summer instead. With more than 52% of US homes expected to have home networks, the CEA suggested hard drive boxes - or media servers - capable of storing thousands of images, video and audio files to be accessed through other devices around the home, will be more commonplace. Portable devices that combine mobile telephony, digital music and video players, will also be more popular in 2005. Their popularity will be driven by more multimedia content and services which will let people watch and listen to films, TV, and audio wherever they are. This means more storage technologies will be in demand, such as external hard drives, and flash memory like SD cards. CES runs officially from 6 to 9 January. | tech |
Who do you think you are?..The real danger is not what happens to your data as it crosses the net, argues analyst Bill Thompson. It is what happens when it arrives at the other end...The Financial Services Authority has warned banks and other financial institutions that members of criminal gangs may be applying for jobs which give them access to confidential customer data. The fear is not that they will steal money from our bank accounts but that they will instead steal something far more valuable in our digital society - our identities. Armed with the personal details that a bank holds, plus a fake letter or two, it is apparently easy to get a loan, open a bank account with an overdraft or get a credit card in someone else's name. And it is then a simple matter to move the money into another account and leave the unwitting victim to sort out the mess when statements and demands for payment start arriving. Identity theft is an increasingly significant economic crime, and we are all becoming more aware of the dangers of leaving bills, receipts and bank statements unshredded in our rubbish...But, however careful you may be, if the organisations you trust with your personal data, bank accounts and credit cards are not able to look after their databases properly then you are in trouble. It is surprising that it has taken the gangs so long to realise that a well-placed insider is by far the simplest way to break the security of a computer system. In fact, I suspect that the FSA is probably very late to this particular party and that this sort of thing has been going on for rather a long time. Has anyone checked Bob Cratchit's family links to the criminal underworld, I wonder? And it is hardly likely to be only banks that are being targeted. Health authorities, government agencies and of course the big e-commerce sites like Amazon must also offer rich pickings for the fraudsters. The good news is that better auditing is likely to catch out those who access account details that they are not supposed to. And as we all become aware of the danger of identity theft and look more carefully for unexpected transactions on our statements, banks should have good enough records and logs to trace the people who might have accessed the account details. Fortunately there are now ways to keep bank systems more secure from the sort of data theft that involves taking a portable hard drive or flash memory card into the office, plugging it into a USB slot and sucking down customer files...Companies like SecureWave, for example, can restrict the use of USB ports just to authorised devices or even to an individual's personal memory card. These solutions are not perfect, but it does not feel like a wave of fraud is about to wash away the entire financial system. However the warning does highlight one of the major issues with e-commerce and online trading - the security or otherwise of the servers and other systems that make up the 'back office'. It has been clear for years that the real danger in paying for goods online with a credit card is not that the number will be intercepted in transit but that the shop you are dealing with will be hacked...In fact I do not know of a single case where an e-mail containing payment details has led to card fraud...There are simply too many e-mails passing over the net for interception to be a sensible tool for anyone out to commit fraud. CD Universe, Powergen and many other companies have left their databases open and suffered the consequences. And just last week the online bank Cahoot admitted that its customer account details could be read by anyone who could guess a login name. Whether it is external hackers breaking in because of poor system security or internal staff abusing the access they get as part of their job, the issue is the same: how do we make sure that our personal data is not abused? Any organisation that processes personal data is, of course, bound by the Data Protection Act and must take proper care of it. Unauthorised disclosure is not allowed, but the penalties are small and the process of prosecuting under the Act so convoluted as to be worthless in practice. This is not something we can just leave it to the market. The consequences of having one's identity stolen are too serious, and markets respond too slowly. After all, I bank with Cahoot but it would be so much hassle to move my accounts that I did not even consider it when I heard about their security problems. I doubt many others have closed their accounts, especially when there is little guarantee that other banks are not going to make the same sort of mistake in future. The two options would seem to be more stringent data protection law, so that companies really feel the pressure to improve their internal processes, or a wave of civil lawsuits against financial institutions with sloppy practices whose customers suffer from identity theft. I have never felt comfortable with the US practice of suing everything that moves, partly because it seems to make lawyers richer than their clients, so I know which I'd prefer...Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital. | tech |
'Brainwave' cap controls computer..A team of US researchers has shown that controlling devices with the brain is a step closer...Four people, two of them partly paralysed wheelchair users, successfully moved a computer cursor while wearing a cap with 64 electrodes. Previous research has shown that monkeys can control a computer with electrodes implanted into their brain. The New York team reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The results show that people can learn to use scalp-recorded electroencephalogram rhythms to control rapid and accurate movement of a cursor in two directions," said Jonathan Wolpaw and Dennis McFarlane. The research team, from New York State Department of Health and State University of New York in Albany, said the research was another step towards people controlling wheelchairs or other electronic devices by thought...The four people faced a large video screen wearing a special cap which, meant no surgery or implantation was needed...Brain activity produces electrical signals that can be read by electrodes. Complex algorithms then translate those signals into instructions to direct the computer. Such brain activity does not require the use of any nerves of muscles, so people with stroke or spinal cord injuries could use the cap effectively. "The impressive non-invasive multidimensional control achieved in the present study suggests that a non-invasive brain control interface could support clinically useful operation of a robotic arm, a motorised wheelchair or a neuroprosthesis," said the researchers. The four volunteers also showed that they could get better at controlling the cursor the more times they tried. Although the two partially-paralysed people performed better overall, the researchers said this could be because their brains were more used to adapting or that they were simply more motivated. It is not the first time researchers have had this sort of success in brain-control experiments. Some teams have used eye motion and other recording techniques. Earlier this year, a team at the MIT Media Labs Europe demonstrated a wireless cap which read brain waves to control a computer character. | tech |
'Brainwave' cap controls computer..A team of US researchers has shown that controlling devices with the brain is a step closer...Four people, two of them partly paralysed wheelchair users, successfully moved a computer cursor while wearing a cap with 64 electrodes. Previous research has shown that monkeys can control a computer with electrodes implanted into their brain. The New York team reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The results show that people can learn to use scalp-recorded electroencephalogram rhythms to control rapid and accurate movement of a cursor in two directions," said Jonathan Wolpaw and Dennis McFarlane. The research team, from New York State Department of Health and State University of New York in Albany, said the research was another step towards people controlling wheelchairs or other electronic devices by thought...The four people faced a large video screen wearing a special cap which, meant no surgery or implantation was needed...Brain activity produces electrical signals that can be read by electrodes. Complex algorithms then translate those signals into instructions to direct the computer. Such brain activity does not require the use of any nerves of muscles, so people with stroke or spinal cord injuries could use the cap effectively. "The impressive non-invasive multidimensional control achieved in the present study suggests that a non-invasive brain control interface could support clinically useful operation of a robotic arm, a motorised wheelchair or a neuroprosthesis," said the researchers. The four volunteers also showed that they could get better at controlling the cursor the more times they tried. Although the two partially-paralysed people performed better overall, the researchers said this could be because their brains were more used to adapting or that they were simply more motivated. It is not the first time researchers have had this sort of success in brain-control experiments. Some teams have used eye motion and other recording techniques. Earlier this year, a team at the MIT Media Labs Europe demonstrated a wireless cap which read brain waves to control a computer character. | tech |
Europe backs digital TV lifestyle..How people receive their digital entertainment in the future could change, following the launch of an ambitious European project...In Nice last week, the European Commission announced its Networked & Electronic Media (NEM) initiative. Its broad scope stretches from the way media is created, through each of the stages of its distribution, to its playback. The Commission wants people to be able to locate the content they desire and have it delivered seamlessly, when on the move, at home or at work, no matter who supplies the devices, network, content, or content protection scheme. More than 120 experts were in Nice to share the vision of interconnected future and hear pledges of support from companies such as Nokia, Intel, Philips, Alcatel, France Telecom, Thomson and Telefonica. It might initially appear to be surprising that companies in direct competition are keen to work together. But again and again, speakers stated they could not see incompatible, stand-alone solutions working. A long-term strategy for the evolution and convergence of technologies and services would be required...The European Commission is being pragmatic in its approach. They have identified that many groups have defined the forms of digital media in the areas that NEM encompasses. The NEM approach is to take a serious look at what is available and what is in the pipeline, pick out the best, bring them together and identify where the gaps are. Where it finds holes, it will develop standards to fill them. What is significant is that such a large and powerful organisation has stated its desire for digital formats to be open to all and work on any gadget. This is bound to please, if not surprise, many individuals and user organisations who feel that the wishes of the holder of rights to content are normally considered over and above those of the consumer. Many feel that the most difficult and challenging area for the Commission will be to identify a solution for different Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes. Currently DRM solutions are incompatible, locking certain types of purchased content, making them unplayable on all platforms. With the potential of having a percentage of every media transaction that takes place globally, the prize for being the supplier of the world's dominant DRM scheme is huge. Although entertainment is an obvious first step, it will encompass the remote provisions of healthcare, energy efficiency and control of the smart home. The 10-year plan brings together the work of many currently running research projects that the EC has been funding for a number of years...Simon Perry is the editor of the Digital Lifestyles website, which covers the impact of technology on media | tech |
A decade of good website design..The web looks very different today than it did 10 years ago...Back in 1994, Yahoo had only just launched, most websites were text-based and Amazon, Google and eBay had yet to appear. But, says usability guru Dr Jakob Nielsen, some things have stayed constant in that decade, namely the principles of what makes a site easy to use. Dr Nielsen has looked back at a decade of work on usability and considered whether the 34 core guidelines drawn up back then are relevant to the web of today. "Roughly 80% of the things we found 10 years ago are still an issue today," he said. "Some have gone away because users have changed and 10% have changed because technology has changed."..Some design crimes, such as splash screens that get between a user and the site they are trying to visit, and web designers indulging their artistic urges have almost disappeared, said Dr Nielsen..."But there's great stability on usability concerns," he told the BBC News website. Dr Nielsen said the basic principles of usability, centring around ease of use and clear thinking about a site's total design, were as important as ever. "It's necessary to be aware of these things as issues because they remain as such," he said. They are still important because the net has not changed as much as people thought it would. "A lot of people thought that design and usability was only a temporary problem because broadband was taking off," he said. "But there are a very small number of cases where usability issues go away because you have broadband."..Dr Nielsen said the success of sites such as Google, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo showed that close attention to design and user needs was important. "Those four sites are extremely profitable and extremely successful," said Dr Nielsen, adding that they have largely defined commercial success on the net..."All are based on user empowerment and make it easy for people to do things on the internet," he said. "They are making simple but powerful tools available to the user. "None of them have a fancy or glamorous look," he added, declaring himself surprised that these sites have not been more widely copied. In the future, Dr Nielsen believes that search engines will play an even bigger part in helping people get to grips with the huge amount of information online. "They are becoming like the operating system to the internet," he said. But, he said, the fact that they are useful now does not meant that they could not do better. Currently, he said, search sites did not do a very good job of describing the information that they return in response to queries. Often people had to look at a website just to judge whether it was useful or not. Tools that watch the behaviour of people on websites to see what they actually find useful could also help refine results. Research by Dr Nielsen shows that people are getting more sophisticated in their use of search engines. The latest statistics on how many words people use on search engines shows that, on average, they use 2.2 terms. In 1994 only 1.3 words were used. "I think it's amazing that we have seen a doubling in a 10-year period of those search terms," said Dr Nielsen...You can hear more from Jakob Nielsen and web design on the BBC World Service programme, Go Digital | tech |
2D Metal Slug offers retro fun..Like some drill sergeant from the past, Metal Slug 3 is a wake-up call to today's gamers molly-coddled with slick visuals and fancy trimmings...With its hand-animated sprites and 2D side-scrolling, this was even considered retro when released in arcades four years ago. But a more frantic shooter you will not find at the end of your joypad this year. And yes, that includes Halo 2. Simply choose your grunt and wade through five 2D side-scrolling levels of the most hectic video game blasting you will ever encounter. It is also the toughest game you are likely to play, as hordes of enemies and few lives pile the pressure on...Players must battle soldiers, snowmen, zombies, giant crabs and aliens, not to mention the huge, screen-filling bosses that guard each of the five levels...The shoot-anything-that-moves gameplay is peppered with moments of old-school genius. Fans of robotic gastropods should note the title refers, instead, to the vast array of vehicles on offer in a game stuffed with bizarre hardware. Tanks, jets and submarines can be commandeered, as well as cannon-toting camels, elephants and ostriches - more weaponry on offer than in an acre of Iraq. Doling out justice is a joy thanks to ultra responsive controls, and while this is a tough nut to crack, it is addictive enough to have you gagging for that one last go. And at a mere £20, Metal Slug 3 is as cheap as sliced, fried spuds, as the man says. Of course, most of you will ignore this, lacking as it does the visual fireworks of modern blasters. But at a time when blockbuster titles offer only a fresh lick of paint in favour of real innovation, Metal Slug 3 is a fresh gasp of air from an era when the Xbox was not even a twinkle in Bill Gates' eye. | tech |
Casual gaming to 'take off'..Games aimed at "casual players" are set to be even bigger in 2005, according to industry experts...Easy-to-play titles that do not require too much time and that are playable online or downloadable to mobile devices will see real growth in the coming year. The trend shows that gaming is not just about big-hitting, games console titles, which appeal more to "hardcore" gamers, said a panel of experts. They were speaking before the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas which showcases the latest trends in gadgets and technologies for 2005. The panel also insisted that casual gamers were not just women, a common misconception which pervades current thinking about gamer demographics...Casual games like poker, pool, bridge, bingo and puzzle-based titles, which can be played online or downloaded onto mobile devices, were "gender neutral" and different genres attracted different players...Greg Mills, program director at AOL, said its figures suggested that sports-based games attracted 90% of 18 to 24-year-old males, while puzzle games were played by 80% of females. Games like bridge tended to attract the over-50 demographic of gamers...But hardcore gamers who are more attracted to blockbuster gamers which usually require hi-spec PCs, like Half-Life 2, or Halo 2 on Xbox, also liked to have a different type of gaming experience. "When hardcore gamers are not playing Halo, they are playing poker and pool, based on our research," said Geoff Graber, director of Yahoo Games, which attracts about 12 million gamers a month...With the growth of powerful PC technology and ownership, broadband take-up, portable players and mobile devices, as well as interactive TV, casual gaming is shaping up to be big business in 2005, according to the panel. The focus for the coming year should be about attracting third-party developers into the field to offer more innovative and multiplayer titles, they agreed. "We are at a time where we are on the verge of something much bigger," said Mr Graber. "Casual games will get into their stride in 2005, will be really big in 2006 and will be about community." With more people finding more to do with their gadgets and high-speed connections, casual games would start to open up the world of gaming as a form of mass-market entertainment to more people. Key to these types of titles is the chance they give people who may not see themselves as gamers to dip in and out of games when they liked...Portal sites which offer casual games, like AOL, Yahoo, and RealArcade, as well as other games-on-demand services, allow people to build up buddy lists so they can return and play against the same people. This aspect of "community" is crucial for gamers who just want to have quick access to free or cheap games without committing long periods of time immersed in £30 to £40 console or PC titles, said the panel. About 120,000 people are expected to attend the CES trade show which stretches over more than 1.5 million square feet and which officially runs from 6 to 9 January. The main theme is how new devices are getting better at talking to each other, allowing people to enjoy digital content, like audio, video and images, when they want, and where they want. | tech |
'Ultimate game' award for Doom 3..Sci-fi shooter Doom 3 has blasted away the competition at a major games ceremony, the Golden Joystick awards...It was the only title to win twice, winning Ultimate Game of the year and best PC game at the awards, presented by Little Britain star Matt Lucas. The much-anticipated sci-fi horror Doom 3 shot straight to the top of the UK games charts on its release in August. Other winners included Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which took the Most Wanted for Christmas prize. Only released last week, it was closely followed by Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, which are expected to be big hits when they are unleashed later this month...But they missed out on the prize for the Most Wanted game of 2005, which went to the Nintendo title, The Legend of Zelda. The original Doom, released in 1994, heralded a new era in computer games and introduced 3D graphics. It helped to establish the concept of the first-person shooter. Doom 3 was developed over four years and is thought to have cost around $15m (£8.3m). The top honour for the best online game of the year went to Battlefield Vietnam. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was handed the Unsung Hero Game of 2004. Its release was somewhat eclipsed by Doom 3, which was released on the same week. It was, however, very well received by gamers and was praised for its storyline which differed from the film released around the same time. Electronic Arts was named top publisher of the year, taking the crown from Nintendo which won in 2003. The annual awards are voted for by more than 200,000 readers of computer and video games magazines. Games awards like this have grown in importance. Over the last six years, the UK market for games grew by 100% and was worth a record £1,152m in 2003, according to a recent report by analysts Screen Digest. | tech |
Gadget show heralds MP3 Christmas..Partners of those who love their hi-tech gear may want to get their presents in early as experts predict a gadget shortage this Christmas...With Apple's iPod topping wish lists again, there may not be enough iPod minis to go round, predicts Oliver Irish, editor of gadget magazine Stuff. "The iPod mini is likely to be this year's Tracey Island," said Mr Irish. Stuff has compiled a list of the top 10 gadgets for 2004 and the iPod is at number one...For anyone bewildered by the choice of gadgets on the market, Stuff and What Hi-Fi? are hosting a best-of gadget show in London this weekend. Star of the show will be Sony's Qrio Robot, an all-singing, all-dancing, football-playing man-machine who can even hold intelligent conversations...But he is not for sale and Sony has no commercial plans for the robot. "He will greet visitors and is flying in from Japan. He probably has his own airplane seat, that is how highly Sony prize him," said Mr Irish. Also on display will be a virtual keyboard which projects itself onto any flat surface. The event will play host to a large collection of digital music players, from companies such as Creative, Sony and Philips as well as the ubiquitously fashionable iPod from Apple. Suggestions that it could be a gaming or wireless Christmas are unlikely to come true as MP3 players remain the most popular stocking filler, said Mr Irish. "Demand is huge and Apple has promised that it can supply enough but people might struggle to get their hands on iPod minis," said Mr Irish...For those who like their gadgets to be multi-talented, the Gizmondo, a powerful gaming console with GPS and GPRS, that also doubles up as an MP3 player, movie player and camera, could be a must-have. "What is impressive is how much it can do and how well it can do them," said Mr Irish. This Christmas, gadgets will not be an all-male preserve. "Women will be getting gadgets from husbands and boyfriends as well as buying them for themselves," said Mr Irish. "Gadgets nowadays are lifestyle products rather than just for geeks." | tech |
Supercomputer breaks speed record..The US is poised to push Japan off the top of the supercomputing chart with IBM's prototype Blue Gene/L machine...It is being assembled for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy (DOE) lab. DOE test results show that Blue Gene/L has managed speeds of 70.72 teraflops. The current top machine, Japan's NEC Earth Simulator, clocks up 35.86. Due next week, the Top 500 list officially charts the fastest computers in the world. It is announced every six months and is worked out using an officially recognised mathematical speed test called Linpack which measures calculations per second. The speeds will most likely make it the fastest computer system on the planet, yet the chip technology powering the machine is the kind which can be found in familiar devices such as games consoles...The US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham confirmed that the machine had reached the breakneck speed, according to the Linpack benchmark. Until the official list is published, however, Blue Gene/L's position will not be confirmed, and there are expected to be some other new entries. But the test results raise the bar of supercomputing enormously and signal a remarkable achievement. Surpassing the 40 trillion calculations per second (teraflop) mark has been considered a landmark for some time...The IBM Blue Gene/L is only a prototype and is one 5th the speed of the full version, due to be completed for the Livermore labs in 2005. Its peak theoretical performance is expected to be 360 teraflops, and will fit into 64 full racks. It will also cut down on the amount of heat generated by the massive power, a big problem for supercomputers. The final machine will help scientists work out the safety, security and reliability requirements for the US's nuclear weapons stockpile, without the need for underground nuclear testing. The Earth Simulator has held on to the top spot since June 2002. It is dedicated to climate modelling and simulating seismic activity. But in September, IBM said that another Blue Gene/L machine clocked up 36.01 teraflops, marginally surpassing the Earth Simulator's performance. This was achieved during internal testing at IBM's production facility in Rochester, Minnesota, though, so was not an official record. Another giant to enter the fray is Silicon Graphics' Columbia supercomputer based at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California. It would be used to model flight missions, climate research, and aerospace engineering. The Linux-based machine was reported to have reached a top speed of 42.7 teraflops in October...Supercomputers are hugely important for working out very complex problems across science and society. Their massive simulation and processing power means they can improve the accuracy of weather forecasts, help design better cars, and improve disease diagnosis. IBM's senior vice president of technology and manufacturing, Nick Donofrio, believes that by 2006, Blue Gene will be capable of petaflop computing. This means it would be capable of doing 1,000 trillion operations a second. "When you get a computer as large as a petaflop, you can start to think of simulations that might complement the physical world," Mr Donofrio recently told the BBC News website..."You can start to be more proactive, more interactive and more innovative." One area where Mr Donofrio sees supercomputing - and Blue Gene machines in particular - as crucial is health. He believes the machines can help scientists understand one of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century: protein folding. "Health is one of the most important problems, not just mapping the human genome, but also protein structures. "We are a great believer in simulation. It gives you another tool," he said. Once the structures of proteins are understood fully, then drugs can be tailor-made to fight diseases more effectively. Compared with the current fastest supercomputers, Blue Gene is designed to consume one 15th the power and be 10 times more compact. Since the first supercomputer, the Cray-1, was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976, computational speed has leaped 500,000 times. The Cray-1 was capable of 80 megaflops (80 million operations a second). The Blue Gene/L machine that will be completed next year will be five million times faster. Started in 1993, the Top 500 list is decided by a group of computer science academics from around the world. It is presented at the International Supercomputer Conference in Pittsburgh. | tech |
Gadgets galore on show at fair..The 2005 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a geek's paradise with more than 50,000 new gadgets and technologies launched during the four-day event...Top gadgets at the show are highlighted in the Innovations Showcase, which recognises some of the hottest developments in consumer electronics. The BBC News website took an early pre-show look at some of those technologies that will be making their debut in 2005.....One of the key issues for keen gadget users is how to store all their digital images, audio and video files. The 2.5GB and 5GB circular pocket hard drive from Seagate might help. The external USB drive won a CES best innovations design and engineering award and is small enough to slip into a pocket. "It is the kind of storage that appeals to people who want their PCs to look cool," said Seagate. "It is all about style but it also has lots of functionality." "It is the first time you can say a hard drive is sexy," it said. In the centre of the device is a blue light that flashes while data is being written to ensure users do not unplug it when it is busy saving those precious pictures.....Universal Electronics' NevoSL is a universal controller that lets people use one device to get at their multimedia content, such as photos, no matter where it is in their house. It can also act as a remote for home theatre and stereo systems. Working with home broadband networks and PCs, the gadget has built-in wireless and a colourful, simple interface. Paul Arling, UEI chief, said consumers face real problems when trying to get at all the files they own that are typically spread across several different devices. He said the Nevo gave people a simple, single way to regain some control over digital media in the home. The Nevo won two awards at CES, one as a Girl's Best Friend award and another for innovation, design and engineering. The gadget is expected to go on sale before the summer and will cost about $799 (£425).....Hotseat is targeting keen gamers with money to spend with its Solo Chassis gaming chair. The specially-designed chair lets gamers play in surround-sound while stretching out in their own "space". It is compatible with all the major games consoles, DVD players and PCs. "We found that kids love playing in surround sound," said Jay LeBoff from Hotseat. "We are looking at offering different types of seats, depending on the market success of this one." The chair also lets people experience surround sound while watching videos, with wireless control for six surround sound speakers. And a drinks holder. The chair, which looks like a car seat on a skeletal frame, should go on sale in April and is expected to cost $399 (£211).....Satellite radio is big business in the US. In the UK, the digital radio technology is known as DAB and works on slightly different technology. Eton Corporation's Porsche designed P7131 digital radio set will be launched both as a DAB radio in the UK as well as a satellite radio set in the US. DAB sets have been slow to take-off in the UK, but this one concentrates on sleek looks as much as technology. "It is for the risqué consumer," said an Eton spokesperson. "We are proud of it because it has the sound quality for the audiophile and the looks for the design-conscious consumer." The Porsche radio is set to go on sale at the end of January in the US and in the first quarter of 2005 in the UK. In the US is it expected to cost $250 (£133).....The average person has a library of 600 digital images estimates the Consumer Electronics Association, the organisation behind CES. This is expected to grow to a massive 3,420 images - or 7.2GB - in five years' time. One gadget that might help swell that collection is Sanyo's tiny handheld VPC-C4 camcorder which is another innovation in design and engineering award winner. It combines high quality video and stills in a very small device. It takes MPEG4 video quality at 30 frames a second and has a four megapixel still camera. Images and video are stored on SD cards, which have come down in price in recent months. A 512MB card will store about 30 minutes of video and 420 stills. The device is so tiny it can be controlled with one thumb. Because images and video are stored on SD memory, it is portable to other devices and means other data like audio can be stored on the card too.....Wearable technology has always promised much but failed to deliver because of lack of storage capability and poor design. MPIO's tiny digital USB music players come in an array of fashionable colours, taking a leaf out of the Apple iPod mini book of design and reflecting the desire for gadgets that look good. Slung on a cord, the player would not look too geeky dangling discreetly from the neck. Although the pendant design was launched three months ago, the device emphasises large storage as well as good looks for fashion-conscious gadget fiends. An even dinkier model, the FY500, comes out in May and will store about 256MB of music. The range of players recently won an International Forum design award 2005. | tech |
Broadband in the UK growing fast..High-speed net connections in the UK are proving more popular than ever...BT reports that more people signed up for broadband in the last three months than in any other quarter. The 600,000 connections take the total number of people in the UK signing up for broadband from BT to almost 3.3 million. Nationally more than 5 million browse the net via broadband. Britain now has among the highest number of broadband connections throughout the whole of Europe...According to figures gathered by industry watchdog, Ofcom, the growth means that the UK has now surpassed Germany in terms of broadband users per 100 people. The UK total of 5.3 million translates into 7.5 connections per 100 people, compared to 6.7 in Germany and 15.8 in the Netherlands. The numbers of people signing up to broadband include those that get their service direct from BT or via the many companies that re-sell BT lines under their own name. Part of the surge in people signing up was due to BT stretching the reach of ADSL - the UK's most widely used way of getting broadband - beyond 6km...Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line technology lets ordinary copper phone lines support high data speeds. The standard speed is 512kbps, though faster connections are available. "This breakthrough led to a dramatic increase in orders as we were suddenly able to satisfy the pent-up demand that existed in many areas," said Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale which provides phone lines that other firms re-sell. BT Retail, which sells net services under its own name, also had a good quarter and provided about 30% of the new broadband customers. This was a slight increase on the previous three months. Despite the good news about growth in broadband, figures from telecommunications regulator Ofcom show that BT faces increasing competition, and dwindling influence, in other sectors. Local Loop Unbundling, (LLU), in which BT rivals install their hardware in exchanges and take over the line to a customer's home or office, is growing steadily. Cable & Wireless and NTL have announced that they are investing millions to start offering LLU services. By the end of September more than 4.2 million phone lines were using so-called Carrier Pre-Section (CPS) services, such as TalkTalk and One.Tel, which route phone calls across non-BT networks from a local exchange. There are now more than 300 different firms offering CPS services and the percentage of people using BT lines for voice calls has shrunk to 55.4%. | tech |
US duo in first spam conviction..A brother and sister in the US have been convicted of sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to AOL subscribers...It is the first criminal prosecution of internet spam distributors. Jurors in Virginia recommended that the man, Jeremy Jaynes, serve nine years in prison and that his sister, Jessica DeGroot, be fined $7,500. They were convicted under a state law that bars the sending of bulk e-mails using fake addresses...They will be formally sentenced next year. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted. Prosecutors said Jaynes was "a snake oil salesman in a new format", using the internet to peddle useless wares, news agency Associated Press reported. A "Fed-Ex refund processor" was supposed to allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. Another item on sale was an "internet history eraser". His sister helped him process credit card payments. Jaynes amassed a fortune of $24m from his sales, prosecutors said. "He's been successful ripping people off all these years," AP quoted prosecutor Russell McGuire as saying. Jaynes was also found guilty of breaking a state law which prohibits the sending of more than 100,000 e-mails in 30 days, Virginia State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore reportedly said. Prosecutors had asked for 15 years in jail for Jaynes, and a jail term for his sister. But Jaynes' lawyer David Oblon called the nine-year recommended term "outrageous" and said his client believed he was innocent. He pointed out that all three of the accused lived in North Carolina and were unaware of the Virginia state law. Spam messages are estimated to account for at least 60% of all e-mails sent. | tech |
Microsoft debuts security tools..Microsoft is releasing tools that clean up PCs harbouring viruses and spyware...The virus-fighting program will be updated monthly and is a precursor to Microsoft releasing dedicated anti-virus software. Also being released is a software utility that will help users find and remove any spyware on their home computer. Although initially free it is thought that soon Microsoft will be charging users for the anti-spyware tool...The anti-spyware tool is available now and the anti-virus utility is expected to be available later this month. Microsoft's Windows operating system has long been a favourite of people who write computer viruses because it is so ubiquitous and has many loopholes that can be exploited. It has proved such a tempting target that there are now thought to be more than 100,000 viruses and other malicious programs in existence. Latest research suggests that new variants of viruses are being cranked out at a rate of up to 200 per week. Spyware is surreptitious software that sneaks on to home computers, often without users' knowledge. In its most benign form it just bombards users with pop-up adverts or hijacks web browser settings. The most malicious forms steal confidential information or log every keystroke that users make. Surveys have shown that most PCs are infested with spyware. Research by technology firms Earthlink and Webroot revealed that 90% of Windows machine have the malicious software on board and, on average, each one harbours 28 separate spyware programs. Before now Microsoft has left the market for PC security software to specialist firms such as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro and many others. It said that its virus cleaning program would not stop machines being infected nor remove the need for other anti-virus programs. On spyware freely available programs such as Ad-Aware and Spybot have become widely used by people keen to keep the latest variants at bay. Microsoft's two security tools have emerged as a result of acquisitions the company has made over the last two years. In 2003 it bought Romanian firm GeCAD Software to get hold of its anti-virus technology. In December 2004 it bought New York-based anti-spyware firm Giant Company Software. Last year Microsoft also released the SP2 upgrade for Windows XP that closed many security loopholes in the software and made it easier for people to manage their anti-virus and firewall programs. | tech |
Slimmer PlayStation triple sales..Sony PlayStation 2's slimmer shape has proved popular with UK gamers, with 50,000 sold in its first week on sale...Sales have tripled since launch, outstripping Microsoft's Xbox, said market analysts Chart-Track. The numbers were also boosted by the release of the PS2-only game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The title broke the UK sales record for video games in its first weekend of release. Latest figures suggest it has sold more than 677,000 copies..."It is obviously very, very encouraging for Sony because Microsoft briefly outsold them last week," John Houlihan, editor of Computerandvideogames.com told BBC News. "And with Halo 2 [for Xbox] out next week, it really is a head-to-head contest between them and Xbox."..Although Xbox sales over the last week also climbed, PS2 sales were more than double that. The figures mean Sony is reaching the seven million barrier for UK sales of the console. Edinburgh-based developer, Rockstar, which is behind the GTA titles, has seen San Andreas pull in an estimated £24m in gross revenues over the weekend. In comparison, blockbuster films like Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban took £11.5m in its first three days at the UK box office. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took nearly £10m over its opening weekend, although games titles are four to five times more expensive than cinema tickets...Gangster-themed GTA San Andreas is the sequel to Grand Theft Auto Vice City which previously held the record for the fastest-selling video game ever. The Xbox game Halo 2, released on 11 November in the UK, is also widely tipped to be one of the best-selling games of the year. The original title won universal acclaim in 2001, and sold more than four million copies...Mr Houlihan added that Sony had done well with the PS2, but it definitely helped that the release of San Andreas coincided with the slimline PS2 hitting the shelves. The run-up to Christmas is a huge battlefield for games consoles and titles. Microsoft's Xbox had been winning the race up until last week in sales. The sales figures also suggest that it may be a largely adult audience driving demand, since GTA San Andreas has an 18 certificate. Sony and Microsoft have both reduced console prices recently and are preparing the way for the launches of their next generation consoles in 2005. "Both have hit crucial price points at around £100 and that really does open up new consoles to new audience, plus the release of two really important games in terms of development are also driving those sales," said Mr Houlihan. | tech |
Seamen sail into biometric future..The luxury cruise liner Crystal Harmony, currently in the Gulf of Mexico, is the unlikely setting for tests of biometric technology...As holidaymakers enjoy balmy breezes, their ship's crew is testing prototype versions of the world's first internationally issued biometric ID cards, the seafarer's equivalent of a passport. Along with the owner's picture, name and personal details, the new Seafarers' Identity Document incorporates a barcode representing unique features of its holder's fingerprints. The cards are due to be issued in February next year, in line with the revised UN Convention on Seafarers' Identity Documents of June 2003. Tests currently under way in the Caribbean are designed to ensure that new cards and their machine readers, produced by different companies in different countries, are working to interoperable standards. Results of the current tests, which involve seafarers from a wide range of occupations and nationalities, will be published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) by the end of November. Crystal Cruises, which operates the Crystal Harmony, is exploring the use of biometrics but has not yet committed to the technology...Authenti-corp, the US technology consultancy, has been working with the ILO on its technical specifications for the cards..."If you're issued a seafarer's ID in your country, you want to be sure that when the ship lands in a port in, say, my country you can validate yourself using whatever equipment we have installed," Authenti-corp's CEO, Cynthia Musselman, told the BBC's Go Digital programme. She said French, Jordanian and Nigerian nationals would be the first seafarers to get the new ID cards since their countries have already ratified the convention. It aims to combat international terrorism whilst guaranteeing the welfare the one million seafarers estimated to be at sea. The convention highlights the importance of access to shore facilities and shore leave as vital elements to a sailor's wellbeing and, therefore, it says, to safer shipping and cleaner oceans. "By increasing security on the seas as well as border control and protection, the cards will hopefully reduce the number of piracy problems around the world," said Ms Musselman. "It should be a safer environment for seafarers to work in, and will allow people protecting their borders to have confidence that the people getting off the ship are, in fact, seafarers." | tech |
US blogger fired by her airline..A US airline attendant suspended over "inappropriate images" on her blog - web diary - says she has been fired...Ellen Simonetti, known as Queen of the Sky, wrote an anonymous semi-fictional account of her life in the sky. She was suspended by Delta in September. In a statement, she said she was initiating legal action against the airline for "wrongful termination". A Delta spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that Ms Simonetti was no longer an employee. Delta has repeatedly declined to elaborate on what it calls "internal employee matters". A spokesperson reiterated this position on Wednesday, confirming only that Ms Simonetti was no longer with the company. The spokesperson also confirmed that there were "very clear rules" attached to the unauthorised use of Delta branding, including uniforms. Ms Simonetti announced on her blog she had been fired on 1 November...She said in an official statement: "As a result of my suspension and subsequent termination without cause by Delta Airlines I am moving forward with filing a discrimination complaint with the Federal Government EEOC [US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]." She added she had also hired a Texas-based law firm to initiate legal action for "wrongful termination, defamation of character and lost future wages." Ms Simonetti told the BBC News website she had received no warning or further explanation when she was suspended on 25 September. Queen of the Sky has received a lot of support and advice from the global blogging community since news of her suspension was brought to light on the BBC News website and others...Her story has highlighted concerns amongst the growing blogging community about conflicts of interest, employment law and free speech on personal websites. The blog, which she started in January as a way of getting over her mother's death, contains a mix of fictional and non-fictional accounts. Queen of the Sky developed over the months as a character in her own right, according to Ms Simonetti. In the postings, she made up fictional names for cities and other companies she mentioned to protect anonymity. But some postings contained images of herself in uniform. Of the 10 or so images only one showed Ms Simonetti's flight "wings". She removed them as soon as she was informed of her suspension. "I never meant it as something to harm my company and don't understand how they think it did harm them," Ms Simonetti said. A legal expert in the US speculated that Delta might be concerned that the fictional content on the blog may be linked back to the airline after the images were posted...Delta has been hit recently by pressures of rising fuel costs and fierce competition. It has said it needs to cut between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs and reduce costs by $5bn (£2.7bn) a year. Analysts had warned recently that the airline might have to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy prevention. Last week, it struck a $1bn cost-cutting deal with its pilots which could save it from bankruptcy. The deal would see pilots accept a 32% pay cut in return for the right to buy 30 million Delta shares, unions said. And on Monday, it negotiated a deal to defer about $135m in debt which was due next year, until 2007. The airline also said it had agreed the terms of a $600m loan from American Express. | tech |
Mobiles double up as bus tickets..Mobiles could soon double up as travel cards, with Nokia planning to try out a wireless ticket system on German buses...Early next year travellers in the city of Hanau, near Frankfurt, will be able to pay for tickets by passing their phone over a smart-card reader already installed on the buses. Passengers will need to own a Nokia 3220 handset which will have a special shell attached to it. The system would reduce queues and make travelling easier, said Nokia...Transport systems around the world are seeing the advantage of using ticketless smartcards. Using a mobile phone is the next step, said Gerhard Romen, head of market development at Nokia...The ticketless trial will start early in 2005 and people will also be able to access transport information and timetables via their phones. Nokia has worked with electronics giant Philips to develop a shell for the mobile phone that will be compatible with Hanau's existing ticketing system. The system opens up possibilities for mobile devices to be interact with everyday environments, said Mr Romen. "It could be used in shops to get product information, at bus-stops to get information about the next bus or, for example, by being passed over an advert of a rock star to find out details of concerts or get ringtones," he told the BBC News website. He is confident that the trial being run in Germany could be extended to transport systems in other countries. "The technology offers access to a lot of services and makes it easy to get the information you want," he said. | tech |
Mobile gig aims to rock 3G..Forget about going to a crowded bar to enjoy a gig by the latest darlings of the music press...Now you could also be at a live gig on your mobile, via the latest third generation (3G) video phones. Rock outfit Rooster are playing what has been billed as the first ever concert broadcast by phone on Tuesday evening from a London venue. The 45-minute gig is due to be "phone cast" by the 3G mobile phone operator, 3. 3G technology lets people take, watch and send video clips on their phones, as well as swap data much faster than with 2G networks like GSM. People with 3G phones in the UK can already download football and music clips on their handsets...Some 1,000 fans of the London-based band will have to pay five pounds for a ticket and need a 3G handset..."Once you have paid, you can come and go as much as you like, because we expect the customers to be mobile," said 3 spokesperson Belinda Henderson. "It's like going to a concert hall, except that you are virtually there." The company behind the trial hopes to learn more about how people use their video phones. "We are looking on how long people will stay on average on the streams. Some people may stay the whole time, some may dip in and out," said Ms Henderson. "We actually expect people to dip in and out because they are mobile and they will be doing other things." 3 is looking to music as a way of persuading more people to take up the latest video phones. It is already planning regular gigs throughout 2005. And during the intermission, of course, you would still be able to make a phone call. | tech |
Consumers 'snub portable video'..Consumers want music rather than movies while on the move, says a report...Produced by Jupiter Research the analysis of the portable media player market found only 13% of Europeans want to watch video while out and about. By contrast, almost a third are interested in listening to music on a portable player such as an iPod. The firm said gadget makers should avoid hybrid devices and instead make sure music reproduction was as good as possible...The report concluded that the driving force behind the growth of Europe's portable player market was likely to be music, rather than films or any combination of the two. Barely 5% of those questioned said they wanted a player that could play back both music and movies. Only 7% wanted a player that could handle games and video..."Dedicated music players are the only established digital media players in Europe today despite their high prices," said Ian Fogg, Jupiter analyst. Mr Fogg said although video players and smartphones were trying to cash in on this success they faced a tough job because of the compromises that had to be made when creating a dual-purpose device. "Europeans care most about music playback," he said. The report showed that 27% of consumers asked are interested in portable music players. The research revealed that French, 39%, and British, 31%, consumers were most interested in music players. Mr Fogg said portable video players were likely to remain a niche product that would not be able to compete with devices dedicated to music playback...A separate report by Jupiter forecasts that the European digital music market will grow to 836m euros (£581m) by 2009. At the end of 2003, the market was worth 10.6m euros (£7.36m). Digital music players will be behind this market growth said Jupiter . Apple's iPod was launched in October 2001, but the portable music player market has been growing steadily since the launch of the Creative Nomad Jukebox in mid-2000. Now consumers face an almost overwhelming choice of high-capacity portable music players that let them store every track on every CD that they own. | tech |
Learning to love broadband..We are reaching the point where broadband is a central part of daily life, at least for some, argues technology analyst Bill Thompson...One of the nice things about being a writer is that I rarely have to go to an office to work. I can sit in a café or a library, with or without a wi-fi connection, and research and write articles. If I am passing through Kings Cross station on my way to a meeting then I can log on from the platform. And I can spend the day working with my girlfriend Anne, a children's writer, at her house in Cambridge, sharing her wireless network. But just over a week ago I arrived at her house to find that there was no network connection...We checked the cable modem and noticed that it had no power, and when she changed the power lead it sparked at her in a way which made it abundantly clear that it was never going to talk to the internet again. She called her service provider, and they told her it would be five days before an engineer would show up with a new cable modem. This did not seem too bad, but in fact she really suffered until her connection was restored on Wednesday. With no modem installed in her computer, she had to borrow internet access from friends or use the dial-up connection on her daughter's laptop, so she had to choose between copying her files onto her USB memory card or accepting a slower and flakier net connection. As a result she did not submit the pictures she wanted to use for a book on earthquakes because they were too big to send over dial-up...She could not research other material because she is used to having easy access to a fast link that lets her search quickly and effectively. But the impact spread into her personal life too. She did not take her children to the cinema during half-term because she could not find out which films were showing at the local cinemas. She planned a trip to Norfolk but did not check the weather because the only place she knows to look for weather information is the BBC website. And she did not know where to go fossil-hunting on the trip because she could not type "fossils Norfolk" into Google. Of course, she readily admits, she could have answered these questions if she had looked in the local paper, listened to the radio or found a book on fossils. But she did not, because having fast, always on, and easy access to the net has become part of the routine of her daily life, and when it was taken away it was too much effort to go back to the old ways of doing things. She may be unusual, but I do not think Anne is alone...According to Ofcom there were almost four million broadband users in the UK in April 2004, and numbers are climbing fast. There will certainly be five million by the end of the year. Dial-up users are switching to broadband. My dad finally made the change earlier this month and new net users are selecting broadband from the start. More and more of these broadband users are beginning to mould their daily lives around the availability of broadband internet connections, and they too will find it difficult to cope if they cannot get online for any reason...It is part of the process of adaptation, and it is a vital step in the growth of broadband in the UK and elsewhere. People who have integrated net access into their daily lives tell their friends about it, and show off the cool stuff they can do. They encourage other people to get broadband so that they can share digital photos and do all of the other things that need fast and reliable connectivity. Of course, broadband in the UK is laughably slow compared to other parts of the world. In South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong normal connection speeds are measured in megabits, or millions of bits, a second rather than the thousands that we are supposed to be happy with. But speed is only a small part of the attraction of broadband, and when it comes to checking websites for film times, looking at weather forecasts, or all of the other small things that make a real difference to the routines and habits of our daily lives, even UK speeds are sufficient. It may not be the brave new world of streaming full-screen video and superfast file downloads, but it will do for now. And it is certainly better than slow access or no access. Just ask Anne...Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital. | tech |
Nintendo DS aims to touch gamers..The mobile gaming industry is set to explode in 2005 with a number of high-profile devices offering a range of gaming and other features such as movie and music playback. Market leader Nintendo, however, is releasing a handheld console that it says will revolutionise the way games are played...The first striking thing about the DS is how retro it looks. Far from looking like a mould-breaking handheld, it looks more like Nintendo dug out a mould from a 1980s handheld prototype. The lightweight clam shell device opens up to reveal two screens, and when switched on it instantly reveals its pedigree. Both screens are crisp and clear while the bottom of the two is touch sensitive. Nintendo has given developers free rein to utilise the dual screens and ability to control the action by simply touching the screen...The Japanese gaming giant hopes the DS will maintain the firm's pre-eminence in an increasingly-competitive mobile gaming market...Nintendo first launched its GameBoy console in 1989 and has dominated the market ever since. But its lead can no longer be taken for granted. Sony will enter the market later this year with its PlayStation Portable, while start-up companies Gizmondo and Tapwave Zodiac are also offering hybrid devices. "We believe the DS will appeal to all ages, both genders and gamers of any skill," said David Yarnton, Nintendo Europe's general manager said at the recent press launch for the handheld. With its two screens, wireless connectivity and backwards compatibility with the GameBoy Advance, the DS certainly has a number of unique selling points. It went on sale in the US in mid-November priced $150 and Nintendo says sales have exceeded expectations, without giving detailed figures. Japan and Europe will have to wait until the first quarter of 2005 to get the device. With more than two million pre-orders for the device in Japan, Nintendo is confident it will keep its number one spot. But will the device prove to be as revolutionary as claimed? The game ships with a demo of Metroid Hunters - a 3D action title which can be played alone or with a group of friends using the machine's wireless capabilities. It certainly looks impressive on the small machine and plays smoothly even with a group of people...The game can be controlled by using the supplied stylus to aim. The top screen is used to navigate the action while the bottom screen offers a top-down map and the ability to switch weapons. It is certainly a unique control method and while it makes aiming more controlled it can be a little disorientating. Super Mario 64 DS is a faithful re-creation of the Nintendo 64 classic with a host of new mini-games and new levels. The game looks stunning on the portable machine and the sound too is impressive for such a small machine. One thing is for certain. Hardened gamers will have to learn to adapt to a new way of playing while it could prove to be an accessible way in to gaming for novices, Ultimately the success or failure of the device lies in the hands of developers. If they manage to create titles which use the Nintendo DS's key features then a whole new market of gamers could open up. The fear is that the touch screen and voice recognition are treated as little more than gimmicks. | tech |
China 'blocks Google news site'..China has been accused of blocking access to Google News by the media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders...The Paris-based pressure group said the English-language news site had been unavailable for the past 10 days. It said the aim was to force people to use a Chinese edition of the site which, according to the watchdog, does not include critical reports. Google told the BBC News website it was aware of the problems and was investigating the causes...China is believed to extend greater censorship over the net than any other country in the world...A net police force monitors websites and e-mails, and controls on gateways connecting the country to the global internet are designed to prevent access to critical information. Popular Chinese portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com maintain a close eye on content and delete politically sensitive comments. And all 110,000 net cafes in the country have to use software to control access to websites considered harmful or subversive..."China is censoring Google News to force internet users to use the Chinese version of the site which has been purged of the most critical news reports," said the group in a statement. "By agreeing to launch a news service that excludes publications disliked by the government, Google has let itself be used by Beijing," it said. For its part, the search giant said it was looking into the issue. "It appears that many users in China are having difficulty accessing Google News sites in China and we are working to understand and resolve the issue," said a Google spokesperson. Google News gathers information from some 4,500 news sources. Headlines are selected for display entirely by a computer algorithm, with no human editorial intervention. It offers 15 editions of the service, including one tailored for China and one for Hong Kong. Google launched a version in simplified Chinese in September. The site does not filter news results to remove politically sensitive information. But Google does not link to news sources which are inaccessible from within China as this would result in broken links. | tech |
A question of trust and technology..A major government department is without e-mail for a week, and technology analyst Bill Thompson wants to know what happened...A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how my girlfriend had suffered when her cable modem blew up and she was offline for several days. It seems that thousands of civil servants at the UK's Department of Work and Pensions went through the same thing last week. It has emerged that the internal network crashed in a particularly horrible way, depriving staff of e-mail and access to the application software they use to calculate people's benefit and pension entitlement or note changes in personal circumstances. Senior consultants from EDS, the computer firm which manage the system, and Microsoft, which supplied the software, were running around trying to figure out what had to be done to fix it all, while staff resorted to phone, fax and probably carrier pigeon to get work done. Fortunately the back-office systems which actually pay people their money were still working, so only new claims and updates were affected done properly. This is bad enough for those affected, but it does mean that the impact is not devastating for millions of pensioners. I am sure regular readers will be expecting one of my usual diatribes against poor software, badly specified systems and inadequate disaster recovery plans...Although the full story has not yet been told, it seems that the problem started when a plan to upgrade some of the computers from Windows 2000 to Windows XP went wrong, and XP code was inadvertently copied to thousands of machines across the network...This is certainly unfortunate, but I have a lot of sympathy for the network managers and technology staff involved. Today's computer networks are large, complex and occasionally fragile. The interconnectedness that we all value also gives us a degree of instability and unpredictability that we cannot design out of the systems. It is the network equivalent of Godel's Theorem - any system sufficiently complex to be useful is also able to collapse catastrophically. So I will reserve judgment on the technology aspects until we all know what actually happened and whether it was a consequence of software failure or just bad luck. What is really disturbing, and cannot be excused, is the fact that it took four days for news of this systems failure to leak out into the technical press...It is, without a doubt, a major story and was the second or third lead item on BBC Radio 4's Today programme throughout Friday morning...So why did not the prime minister's official spokesman mention it at any lobby briefings before Friday? Why was not the pensions minister in Parliament to make an emergency statement on Tuesday, when it was clear that there was a serious problem? If there had been an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease in the air conditioning system we would have been told, but it seems that major technology problems do not merit the same treatment. While EDS and Microsoft will no doubt be looking for technical lessons to learn from their week of pain, we can learn some political lessons too. And the most important is that in this digital world, technology failures are matters of public interest, not something that can be ignored in the hope that nobody will notice, care or understand. That means we need a full report on what went wrong and what was done to fix it. It would be unacceptable for any of the parties involved to hide behind commercial confidentiality or even parliamentary privilege. A major system has evidently collapsed and we need to know what went wrong and what is being done differently. Anything less is a betrayal of public trust...Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital. | tech |
Call for action on internet scam..Phone companies are not doing enough to warn customers about internet "rogue-dialling" scams, according to premium phone line regulator Icstis...It has received 45,000 complaints in recent months about dial-up internet connections diverting to premium rate numbers without users' knowledge. Phone companies refuse to pay compensation because they say calls must be paid for. They must warn people earlier about possible fraud, Icstis said...People who use dial-up connections can be affected by the scams. Without realising, a program can be downloaded which diverts internet calls via a premium phone line. Victims often fail to notice until they receive an unusually high bill. Icstis spokesman Rob Dwight said: "Phone companies should get in touch with their customers sooner. "If my bill goes over the usual £50 a month I want to know about it straight away - I don't want to be told when it's hit £750."..Phone companies had the systems in place to spot fraudulent activity and artificially-inflated traffic, he said. "We alert them to the numbers that we have under investigation and they should be looking out for these numbers," he added...Telecoms ombudsman Elizabeth France said: "Certainly I would not be surprised to find my credit card company phoning me if I do something out of the ordinary. "So I would expect phone companies to be looking to see if they can have a similar approach." The biggest phone company BT says it is doing what it can to monitor fraud and warn people about rogue dialling. Its advice to customers is to use call barring if they want to prevent calls to premium lines because, under the current system, once the call has been made there's little that can be done...Gavin Patterson, group managing director for BT Consumer, said "We do look at customer's calling patterns and we do make interventions when they are out of the ordinary. "We're looking at the moment at whether we can improve this." But as BT handled 180 million calls a day monitoring was "quite a task in itself", he added. The government has ordered a review of premium line services and is likely to say Icstis should have more power to deal with rogue diallers in future. At the moment, it cannot demand pay-outs on the behalf of customer - it can only close illegal services down...I use free anti-virus software (AVG) and free firewall protection (ZoneAlarm). Both of these tools have prevented unauthorised access and outgoing calls inadvertently and innocently caused by my daughter's love of music sites. How about ISPs informing all customers of such facilities? The responsibility clearly falls with the customer but many fall prey through simply not knowing how to avoid these issues...Ignorance is and always has been an expensive business...Does any one know what happens once this fraud has been committed and recognised? The phone companies pay the people who obtaining money fraudulently, so are these people followed up and prosecuted ?..These diallers are mainly downloaded from sites offering illegal MP3s, porn and pirated software. If people didn't visit such sites they'd be considerably less at risk. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? It seems everyone has to be a 'victim' these days!..Part of the blame has to rest with the manufacturers of home computer operating systems. A secure system should not allow a web page or email to download and install anything without the user's knowledge...These scams are illegal and telephone companies should have nothing to do with them. They should refuse to pay money over to the perpetrators. Or are they themselves receiving such good returns that it is in their interest to keep the scam going?..Why don't BT et al block all premium numbers by default and only turn it off at the customer's request? To anyone who falls foul of this scam - refuse to pay your telephone provider for these calls. After you notify your telephone provider of these fraudulent transactions, they cannot insist on you paying the bill. To do so would be to knowingly assist the fraudsters to commit the fraud. No customers have yet been taken to court for refusing to pay these bills...Disable or remove your modem and use broadband instead - then you have nothing to worry about. Or buy some decent firewall software and anti-virus. You would not walk out in the freezing cold without a coat - you would not drive your car without any insurance - so why not protect your PC? Stop blaming the phone companies - it's not their fault!..I was very impressed with our phone company recently. I had kept ringing a hotline number for Kylie tickets and next day they rang back to ask if I was aware there were 40-odd calls to the same number. Great service. And I got the tickets as well!..I have a colleague who has fallen victim to this kind of scam. He informed the phone company about it, they subsequently put a block on premium rate numbers. Three months later another huge bill of over £1,000 came in - the block apparently didn't work and he still has to pay for it, even though a block was in place. Phone companies are probably quite happy for their customers to be hit with a huge bill, otherwise they'd be taking extra steps to prevent this kind of problem...I have been scammed of £139. The operator will do nothing about this and, to add insult to injury, I was charged VAT by the government...Premium rate numbers have been subject to various scams ever since they were invented. One example was where thieves would set up a premium rate number and then dial it day and night from phones whose quarterly bills were never paid. The telephone company was the victim here and you can bet that loophole was blocked very quickly...I know people who have run up large bills, despite being IT-literate. From talking to BT in Belfast, I believe that they will shortly be giving out a free application that can stop you dialling expensive numbers without knowing. It's not the fault of phone companies, and at last they are doing something about it...It's about time that the profiteering by the 'legitimate' phone companies came to an end, mainly by doing away with dial-up altogether and bring broadband down to the same price as dial-up! Not only will this ruin things for the dialler scammers but also allow people to update and upgrade their security more easily and quickly...I haven't "fallen victim to a rogue-dialling scam" but I think you're seriously remiss in not pointing out that the vast majority of these scams arise from people trying to access services purporting to provide free pornography. In most cases the user is entirely at fault, which is probably why the telephone companies are rightly unwilling to refund them...My telephone supplier did not inform me that my monthly bill had risen from its normal £3 to £5, to £320. This was because of the scam. They simply billed me. What particularly galls me, over and above having over £300 stolen, is that the supplier and the government (through VAT) are profiting from this crime and will not reimburse me their portion of my losses...How about an automatic monthly cap of say £20 on premium rate calls that you would have to contact your provider to have lifted? That way you could use legitimate premium rate numbers while limiting fraudulent usage. At least any disputed amount would be limited, far easier for a telecoms operator to write off £20 than it is £750...A few years back I was also the target of such scams but thank God I have already upgraded to broadband and nothing was connected to my modem so all I heard was the sound of an attempted connection...How about home users take some responsibility and ensure their anti-virus and firewall software is up to date? That should prevent the vast majority of these scams. | tech |
Screensaver tackles spam websites..Net users are getting the chance to fight back against spam websites..Internet portal Lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail. Lycos hopes it will make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers soar by keeping their servers running flat out. The net firm estimates that if enough people sign up and download the tool, spammers could end up paying to send out terabytes of data..."We've never really solved the big problem of spam which is that its so damn cheap and easy to do," said Malte Pollmann, spokesman for Lycos Europe. "In the past we have built up the spam filtering systems for our users," he said, "but now we are going to go one step further.".."We've found a way to make it much higher cost for spammers by putting a load on their servers." By getting thousands of people to download and use the screensaver, Lycos hopes to get spamming websites constantly running at almost full capacity. Mr Pollmann said there was no intention to stop the spam websites working by subjecting them with too much data to cope with. He said the screensaver had been carefully written to ensure that the amount of traffic it generated from each user did not overload the web. "Every single user will contribute three to four megabytes per day," he said, "about one MP3 file." But, he said, if enough people sign up spamming websites could be force to pay for gigabytes of traffic every single day. Lycos did not want to use e-mail to fight back, said Mr Pollmann. "That would be fighting one bad thing with another bad thing," he said...The sites being targeted are those mentioned in spam e-mail messages and which sell the goods and services on offer...Typically these sites are different to those that used to send out spam e-mail and they typically only get a few thousand visitors per day. The list of sites that the screensaver will target is taken from real-time blacklists generated by organisations such as Spamcop. To limit the chance of mistakes being made, Lycos is using people to ensure that the sites are selling spam goods. As these sites rarely use advertising to offset hosting costs, the burden of high-bandwidth bills could make spam too expensive, said Mr Pollmann. Sites will also slow down under the weight of data requests. Early results show that response times of some sites have deteriorated by up to 85%. Users do not have to be registered users of Lycos to download and use the screensaver. While working, the screensaver shows the websites that are being bothered with requests for data. The screensaver is due to be launched across Europe on 1 December and before now has only been trialled in Sweden. Despite the soft launch, Mr Pollmann said that the screensaver had been downloaded more than 20,000 times in the last four days. "There's a huge user demand to not only filter spam day-by-day but to do something more," he said "Before now users have never had the chance to be a bit more offensive." | tech |
First look at PlayStation 3 chip..Some details of the chip inside Sony's PlayStation 3 have been revealed...Sony, IBM and Toshiba have released limited data about the so-called Cell chip that will be able to carry out trillions of calculations per second. The chip will be made of several different processing cores that work on tasks together. The PlayStation 3 is expected in 2006 but developers are expecting to get prototypes early next year to tune games that will appear on it at launch...The three firms have been working on the chip since 2001 but before now few details have been released about how it might function. In a joint statement the three firms gave hints about how the chip will work but fuller details will be released in February next year at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco...The three firms claim that the Cell chip will be up to 10 times more powerful than existing processors. When put inside powerful computer servers, the Cell consortium expects it to be capable of handling 16 trillion floating point operations, or calculations, every second. The chip has also been refined to be able to handle the detailed graphics common in games and the data demands of films and broadband media. IBM said it would start producing the chip in early 2005 at manufacturing plants in the US. The first machines off the line using the Cell processor will be computer workstations and servers. A working version of the PS3 is due to be shown off in May 2005 but a full launch of the next generation console is not expected to start until 2006. As well as being inside the PlayStation 3, the chip will also be used inside high-definition TVs and powerful computers. "In the future, all forms of digital content will be converged and fused onto the broadband network," said Ken Kutaragi, Chief Operating Officer of Sony. "Current PC architecture is nearing its limits." | tech |
Online commons to spark debate..Online communities set up by the UK government could encourage public debate and build trust, says the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR)...Existing services such as eBay could provide a good blueprint for such services, says the think-tank. Although the net is becoming part of local and central government, its potential has not yet been fully exploited to create an online "commons" for public debate. In its report, Is Online Community A Policy Tool?, the IPPR also asks if ID cards could help create safer online communities. Adopting an eBay-type model would let communities create their own markets for skills and services and help foster a sense of local identity and connection. "What we are proposing is a civic commons," Will Davies, senior research fellow at the IPPR told the BBC News website. "A single publicly funded and run online community in which citizens can have a single place to go where you can go to engage in diversity and in a way that might have a policy implication - like a pre-legislation discussion."..The idea of a "civic commons" was originally proposed by Stephen Coleman, professor of e-democracy at the Oxford Internet Institute. The IPPR report points to informal, small scale examples of such commons that already exist. It mentions good-practice public initiatives like the BBC's iCan project which connects people locally and nationally who want to take action around important issues...But he adds, government could play a bigger role in setting up systems of trust for online communities too. Proposals for ID cards, for instance, could also be widened to see if they could be used online. They could provide the basis for a secure authentication system which could have value for peer-to-peer interaction online. "At the moment they have been presented as a way for government to keep tabs on people and ensuring access to public services," said Mr Davies. "But what has not been explored is how authentication technology may potentially play a role in decentralised online communities." The key idea to take from systems such as eBay and other online communities is letting members rate each other's reputation by how they treat other members. Using a similar mechanism, trust and cooperation between members of virtual and physical communities could be built. This could mean a civic commons would work within a non-market system which lets people who may disagree with one another interact within publicly-recognised rules...E-government initiatives over the last decade have very much been about putting basic information and service guides online as well as letting people interact with government via the web. Many online communities, such as chatrooms, mailing lists, community portals, message boards and weblogs often form around common interests or issues...With 53% of UK households now with access to the net, the government, suggests Mr Davies, could act as an intermediary or "middleman" to set up public online places of debate and exchange to encourage more "cosmopolitan politics" and public trust in policy. "Government already plays a critical role in helping citizens trade with each other online. "But it should also play a role in helping citizens connect to one another in civic, non-market interactions," said Mr Davies. There is a role for public bodies like the BBC, libraries, and government to bring people back into public debate again instead of millions of "cliques" talking to each other, he added. The paper is part of the IPPR's Digital Society initiative which is producing a number of conferences and research papers leading up to the publication of A Manifesto For A Digital Britain. | tech |
Mobile gaming takes off in India..Gaming on the move is one of the fastest-growing activities among the tech-savvy in India, says a report...The Indian mobile gaming market is expected to generate about $26m (£13.8m) by the end of 2004, according to market analysts In-Stat/MDR. In October, mobile phone users grew by 1.4 million to 44.9 million, overtaking the number of landlines, said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Analysts say cheap rates and a huge youth market is driving the market. India has a large population of under-25s, and many in urban areas are fast adopting mobiles as must-have gadgets...India's mobile gaming market will bring in about $336m (£178m) by 2009, according to the report. Mobile gaming is expected to explode globally over the next few years. Analysts predict that 220 million people will be playing games on phones by 2009, generating billions for mobile companies...Services other than just voice calls which are offered by mobile operators in India have, as a result of the huge rise in subscribers, grown significantly and rapidly. "The growth of this market sector has attracted publishers, developers, animators, musicians, and content providers, and is also stimulating the development of innovative business models," said Clint Wheelock, director of In-Stat/MDR's wireless research group..."Mobile gaming is not just about fun; it also represents one key element of a rich mobile entertainment experience for consumers, and a lucrative market opportunity for industry players." Currently, India has six big games developers and four mobile operators that offer games to their subscribers, said the report. According to In-Stat/MDR, it is tipped to make up one of the most important markets in the next wave of mobile multimedia growth...In January 2003, there were only 10 million mobile subscribers in India. Many choose mobiles in rural areas in order to bypass poorer telecoms infrastructure. Despite this, the penetration rate is still much lower that other countries. Less than 20% of India's total population own a mobile in India, compared to well over 50% in most European countries. The trend echoes the uptake of mobiles in many developing economies, which continues to grow as people opt to leapfrog slower and more expensive state-run fixed-line operators. | tech |
Gadget market 'to grow in 2005'..The explosion in consumer technology is to continue into 2005, delegates at the world's largest gadget show, in Las Vegas, have been told...The number of gadgets in the shops is predicted to grow by 11%, while devices which talk to each other will become increasingly important. "Everything is going digital," Kirsten Pfeifer from the Consumer Electronics Association, told the BBC News website. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) featured the pick of 2005's products. "Consumers are controlling what they want and technologies like HDTVs [high-definition TVs], digital radio, and digital cameras will remain strong in 2005. "All the products on show really showed the breadth and depth of the industry." Despite showing diversity, some delegates attending complained that the showcase lacked as much "wow factor" as in previous years...The portable technologies on show also reflected one of the buzzwords of CES, which was the "time and place shifting" of multimedia content - being able to watch and listen to video and music anywhere, at any time. At the start of last year's CES, the CEA predicted there would be an average growth of 4% in 2004. That figure was surpassed with the rise in popularity of portable digital music players, personal video recorders and digital cameras. It was clear also that gadgets are becoming a lot more about lifestyle choice, with fashion and personalisation becoming increasingly key to the way gadgets are designed. Part of this has been the rise in spending power of the "generation X-ers" who have grown up with technology and who now have the spending power and desire for more devices that suit them. More than 57% of the consumer electronics market is made up of female buyers, according to CEA research. Hybrid devices, which combine a number of multimedia functions, were also in evidence on the show floor. "A lot of this is driven by just the ability to do it," said Stephen Baker, a consumer electronics analyst with retail research firm NPD Group. "Some of these functions cost next to nothing to add."..As well as the show floor showcasing everything from tiny wearable MP3 players to giant high-definition TVs, several keynote speeches were made by industry leaders, such as Microsoft chief Bill Gates. Despite several embarrassing technical glitches during Mr Gate's pre-show speech, he announced several new partnerships - mainly for the US market. He unveiled new ways of letting people take TV shows recorded on personal video recorders and watch them back on portable devices. He disappointed some, however, by failing to announce any details of the next generation of the Xbox games console. Another disappointment was the lack of exposure Sony's new portable games device, the PSP, had at the show. Sony said the much-anticipated gadget would most likely start shipping in March for the US and Europe. It went on sale in Japan before Christmas. There were only two PSPs embedded in glass cabinets at the show though and no representatives to discuss further details. A Sony representative told the BBC News website this was because Sony did not consider it to be part of their "consumer technology" offering...Elsewhere at the show, there was a plethora of colour and plasma screens, including Samsung's 102-inch (2.6 metre) plasma - the largest in the world. Industry experts were also excited about high-definition technologies coming to the fore in 2005, with new formats for DVDs coming out which will hold six times as much data as conventional DVDs. With so many devices on the move there were a lot of products on show offering external storage, like Seagate's 5GB pocket sized external hard drive, which won an innovation for engineering and design prize. More than 120,000 trade professionals attended CES in Las Vegas, which officially ran from 6 to 9 January. | tech |
Swap offer for pirated Windows XP..Computer giant Microsoft has launched a pilot scheme to replace counterfeit versions of Windows XP with legal ones...The first-time initiative is restricted to the UK and to users with pre-installed copies of the operating system in PCs bought before November. Until December Microsoft said software can be sent to it for analysis if there are doubts about its legitimacy. The company aims to detect illegal traders and turn users of fake versions of Windows into legitimate ones...The Windows XP Counterfeit Project will mean that software that is found to be counterfeit will be replaced for free, subject to certain conditions, until the end of the year. It is the first time Microsoft has launched a counterfeit product replacement scheme in the world, the company told the BBC News website. In June, the software giant said that the major security update to Windows XP, Service Pack 2, would not work with the most widely pirated versions of its operating system. The upgrade closed security loopholes in XP and added features that made it easier to keep machines safe from viruses and other types of malicious computer code...The US company invited anyone who had suspicions about their version of Windows XP to submit it for testing as soon as possible. The procedure consists of a series of computer checks, collating documents, and filling out a witness statement. "This is a great opportunity for users to confirm the authenticity of Windows XP software whilst helping gather vital information about illegal traders", said Alex Hilton, licence compliance manager at Microsoft. The scheme has also been welcomed by the technology and commerce industry. "It is important that users ensure that they are legally licensed to avoid the risks of purchasing and using counterfeit products", said David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce. The plan would enable Microsoft to gather intelligence about illegal traders in a prompt way, which would allow it to take action against software pirates. Microsoft said it would evaluate the results of the UK programme before setting up similar schemes in other countries. | tech |
Ban hits Half-Life 2 pirates hard..About 20,000 people have been banned from playing the Half-Life 2 game...Game maker Valve shut down the online accounts of the players because it had evidence that their copy of the game had been obtained illegally. Copies of Half-Life 2 had been circulating on file-sharing systems soon after it was officially released. Experts said the success of the Half-Life 2 anti-piracy system might tempt other game makers into creating their own version...Half-Life 2 was officially released on 16 November but before gamers could get to grips with the long-awaited title they were forced to authenticate their copy of the game online. Authentication involved setting up an account with Valve's gaming community system called Steam and letting that check which copy of the game was being run...In a statement detailing the banning of the accounts Valve said this system helped identify who had got hold of pirated copies. "The method used was extremely easy for Valve to trace and confirm, and so there is no question that the accounts disabled were used to try and illegally obtain Half-Life 2," read the statement. Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi said that the company had not yet released sales figures for the game and would not say what proportion of all Steam players the 20,000 represented. One effect of Steam's popularity has been to limit the copies of the game sold in shops and artificially depress the game's ranking in the top ten. Even so the title debuted at No 3 in the UK charts. Valve also said that a small number of accounts were closed because people were using stolen credit cards to buy copies of the game or were using stolen Steam accounts. Some of those who have been banned by the move protested their innocence in the online forums on the main Steam site and said they were being punished for what other people did with their account...Some contributors to the forums wondered if the action might force more piracy as people tried to get hold of successive copies of the game to keep ahead of Valve's anti-piracy actions...In its statement Valve also said that rumours that it distributed fake Half-Life 2 keys, copies of the game or instructions on how to hack the game, just to catch pirates and cheats were false. The company said: "The hack came from the 'community' as do they all." It added that most of those banned simply tried to use copies of Half-Life 2 circulating on file-swapping systems such as Bit Torrent rather than use hacks to get around the need for CD keys. Rob Fahey, editor of online news site gamesindustry.biz, said the mass banning showed off the power of the Steam system. Before now, he said, it has been hard for game makers to do anything about piracy once the game was being played. "But with this, Valve is taking really effective steps against people using illegitimate copies of Half-Life 2," he said. If Steam proves effective at cutting the piracy of games to a minimum, said Mr Fahey, other game makers may be tempted to set up copycat systems. "It's not hard to see a point in the near future when every publisher wants you to run an application on your system purely to allow you to play their games," he said. This could mean that computers get cluttered with poorly written Steam-type systems that are used to batter people with adverts. Unless game firms were careful, he said, they could face a backlash from consumers who soon get tired of maintaining different accounts for every game they play. | tech |
New browser wins over net surfers..The proportion of surfers using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) has dropped to below 90%, say web analysts...Net traffic monitor, OneStat.com, has reported that the open-source browser Firefox 1.0, released on 9 November, seems to be drawing users away from IE. While IE's market share has dropped 5% since May to 88.9%, Mozilla browsers - including Firefox - have grown by 5%. Firefox is made by the Mozilla Foundation which was set up by former browser maker Netscape in 1998. Although there have been other preview versions of Firefox, version 1.0 was the first complete official program. "It seems that people are switching from Microsoft's Internet Explorer to Mozilla's new Firefox browser," said Niels Brinkman, co-founder of Amsterdam-based OneStat.com...Mozilla browsers - including Firefox 1.0 - now have 7.4% of the market share, the figures suggest. Mozilla said that more than five million have downloaded the free software since its official release. Supporters of the open-source software in the US managed to raise $250,000 (£133,000) to advertise the release of Firefox 1.0 in The New York Times, and support the Mozilla Foundation. There was a flurry of downloads on its first day of release...The figures echo similar research from net analyst WebSideStory which suggested that IE had 92.9% of users in October compared to 95.5% in June. Microsoft IE has dominated the browser market for some time after taking the crown from Netscape, and its share of users has always stayed at around the 95% mark. Firefox is attractive to many because it is open-source. That means people are free to adapt the software's core code to create other innovative features, like add-ons or extensions to the program. Fewer security holes have also been discovered so far in Firefox than in IE. Paul Randle, Microsoft Windows Client product manager, responded to the figures: "We certainly respect that some customers will choose alternative browsers and that choosing a browser is about more than a handful of features. "Microsoft continues to make significant investments in IE, including Service Pack 2 with advanced security technologies, and continues to encourage a vibrant ecosystem of third party add-ons for Internet Explorer." Firefox wants to capture 10% of the market by the end of 2005. Other browser software, like Opera and Apple's Safari, are also challenging Microsoft's grip on the browser market. Opera is set to release its version 7.60 by the end of the year. OneStat.com compiled the statistical measurements from two million net users in 100 countries. | tech |
Smartphones suffer Skulls attack..Owners of some Nokia smartphones are being warned to watch out for malicious wallpaper...Those downloading the software could find all the icons on their 7610 phone swapped for images of skulls. When installed the malicious program also locks many of the 7610's functions making it hard to use and harder to repair. The program is only the latest in a series of viruses produced to attack mobile phones...The file, nicknamed Skulls, is thought to have surfaced on shareware sites where people can pick up free add-ons, such as wallpaper, games and ringtones, for their phones Symbian said that it was not sure if the damage Skulls does was intentional or simply a result of bad programming. Soon after being discovered the file is thought to have been removed from the sites that were unwittingly harbouring it. The program is masquerading as software that creates new background images and themes for the main screen of the 7610 phone. The Skulls program is labelled as a file called: 7610.extended.theme.manager.zip...Once installed the program replaces all the icons on the main page with skulls and replaces all the working applications, such as contacts, calendar, notebook etc with non-working versions so the phone becomes almost useless. The only thing the phone can do is make and take calls. A statement by Symbian played down the significance of the malicious program and said few people would fall victim to it as users have to go through several steps to install it, one of which includes ignoring a security warning. Symbian said that the spread of the Skulls program was likely to be limited as the program cannot travel from one phone to another by itself. Despite this Finnish anti-virus lab F-Secure said it had sporadic reports of 7610 owners being caught out by it. The firm has produced guidance for users caught out to help them remove the program and get their phone working again. The Skulls program is thought to have been written by a malicious hacker using the alias Tee-222. Symbian phones produced by Sony Ericsson, Motorola, BenQ, Arima and Fujitsu are unaffected by the Skulls program. | tech |
Musical future for phones..Analyst Bill Thompson has seen the future and it is in his son's hands...I bought my son Max a 3G phone, partly because they are so cheap and he needed a phone, and partly because I am supposed to know about the latest technology and thought I should see how they work in real life. After using it for a while I am not at all tempted to get rid of my SonyEricsson P800 smart phone. That has a relatively large screen, even if it does only have slower GPRS access to the network. I can read my e-mail, surf the web using a proper browser and write stuff using the stylus on its touch screen. Last week someone e-mailed me a document that had been compressed into a ZIP file, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my phone even knew how to decompress it for me. By contrast the confusing menus, complicated keyboard and truly irritating user interface of Max's 3G phone simply get in the way, and I did not see much value in the paid-for services, especially the limited web access. The videos of entertainment news, horoscopes and the latest celebrity gossip did not appeal, and I did not see how the small screen could be useful for any sort of image, never mind micro-TV...But then Max started playing, and I realised I was missing the point entirely...It is certainly not a great overall experience, but that is largely due to the poor menu system and the phone layout: the video content itself is compelling. The quality was at least as good as the video streaming from the BBC website, and the image is about the same size. Max was completely captivated, and I was intrigued to discover that I had nearly missed the next stage of the network revolution. It is easy to be dismissive of small screens, and indeed anyone of my generation, with failing eyesight and the view that 'there's never anything worth watching on TV', is hardly going to embrace these phones. But just as the World Wide Web was the "killer application" that drove internet adoption, music videos are going to drive 3G adoption. With Vodafone now pushing its own 3G service, and 3 already established in the UK, video on the phone is clearly going to become a must-have for kids sitting on the school bus, adults waiting outside clubs and anyone who has time to kill and a group of friends to impress...This will please the network operators, who are looking for some revenue from their expensively acquired 3G licences. But it goes deeper than that: playing music videos on a phone marks the beginning of a move away from the 'download and play' model we have all accepted for our iPods and MP3 players. After all, why should I want to carry 60GB of music and pictures around with me in my pocket when I can simply listen to anything I want, whenever I want, streamed to my phone? Oh - and of course you can always use the phone to make voice calls and send texts, something which ensures that it is always in someone's pocket or handbag, available for other uses too. I have never really approved of using the Internet Protocol (IP), to do either audio or video streaming, and I think that technically it is a disaster to make phone calls over the net using "voice over IP"...But I have to acknowledge that the net, at least here in the developed Western countries, is fast and reliable enough to do both...I stream radio to my computer while I work, and enjoy hearing the bizarre stations from around the world that I can find online but nowhere else. I am even playing with internet telephony, despite my reservations, and I appear on Go Digital on the World Service, streamed over the web each week. But 3G networks have been designed to do this sort of streaming, both for voice and video, which gives them an edge over net-based IP services. The 3G services aren't quite there yet, and there is a lot to be sorted out when it comes to web access and data charges. Vodafone will let you access its services on Vodafone Live! as part of your subscription cost but it makes you pay by the megabyte to download from other sites - this one, for example. This will not matter to business users, but will distort the consumer market and keep people within the phone company's collection of partner sites, something that should perhaps be worrying telecoms regulator Ofcom. But we should not see these new phones simply as cut-down network terminals. If I want fast access to my e-mail I can get a 3G card for my laptop or hook up to a wireless network. The phone is a lot more, and it is as a combination of mini-TV, personal communications device and music/video player that it really works. There is certainly room in the technology ecosystem for many different sorts of devices, accessing a wide range of services over different networks. 3G phones and iPods can co-exist, at least for a while, but if I had to bet on the long term I would go for content on demand over carrying gigabytes in my pocket. Or perhaps some enterprising manufacturer will offer me both. An MP3G player, anyone?..Bill Thompson is a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital. | tech |
Multi-purpose TV aids India..Two-thirds of the world's population, 4 billion people, live on $2,000 a year or less...You might think that the last thing on their minds would be getting a television set or a computer. But that's not the case. Many people in the developing world give up one of their daily meals so they can afford to buy a TV. And now, an Indian-born computer engineer thinks he's come up with a way to give them cheap access to the internet. Carnegie Mellon Professor Raj Reddy has spent the bulk of his professional career trying to find ways to make technology accessible to poor people. The first step is to figure out why poor people would want a personal computer and Professor Reddy thinks he has a pretty good idea of why they might. "I come from a village," says Prof Reddy, "I know what the population is like, many of them are illiterate, and many of them have other concerns." "There, nobody will use it for the conventional uses of a PC, word processing and Powerpoint," he said. "So it's clear to me that if people wanted to use PCs in a village - it has to usable by illiterate people and it must be primarily for entertainment, education, telemedicine, and access to expert advice."..Prof Reddy also thinks that tying it into some kind of aid package was the wrong approach. After all, he asked -- what aid group could possibly give expensive computers to 250 million less fortunate Indians, let alone the billions of poor people around the world?..Instead, Prof Reddy decided to think of those 250 million Indians as a potential market. The problem then becomes one of making the product compelling enough. "It must be so compelling that you would give up your third meal in order to have this," Prof Reddy says. "People do this today with television sets. If you go to India, and many other countries, they will first go get a television set before they worry about one more meal. Why? Because personalized entertainment has become very important." This hatched a completely new idea. He calls it a PCtvt - A personal computer, television and telephone all in one that runs on a normal desktop machine. Literate users can surf through the applications with a keyboard and mouse but illiterate users can use what looks like a television remote control...On the screen, pictures - not words - designate applications like TV, voice mail, and video e-mail. This dependence on graphics, video and audio means that a computer for an illiterate person needs 100 times more power and more memory than one for a PhD. Prassana Rambathla, one of Prof Reddy's graduate students, says that "when you're talking illiterate you're talking audio and video, and that demands exponentially high bandwidth.' "It can't choke at any point in time, and it has to withstand anything no matter what you're pressing." "The major part is making it foolproof, very tough, so that it never breaks," he says. The Carnegie Mellon team says this project is only possible because PCs are now so much cheaper and have built-in audio and video hardware and software. Limited trials of the PCtvt are due to start this month in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh...Although Andhra Pradesh has a fairly good infrastructure but work has to be done to ensure reliable connections to the net. Prof Reddy has teamed up with Eric Brewer at the University of California at Berkeley. The answer, says Prof Brewer, is wi-fi..."We're looking at the thing you'll see in Starbuck's or many other hotspots," he says. "We're doing a lot of work on long-distance wireless and how to make the network work better in the presence of intermittency, when the power goes up and down, and the links go up and down, and the computers you're connected to just get turned off for no reason." Prof Reddy says he hopes to lease the PCtvts for about $10 a month, and thinks Indians will rent the units for the television and DVD capabilities. Reddy says he can then introduce the PCtvt's other technologies - such as video mail. For example, a farmer could use the PCtvt's webcam to send a picture of a harmful insect to a local official who could send back a proposed course of action to the farmer. Prof Reddy thinks this kind of communication is the real pay-off. "The underlying problem," he says, "is how you can increase their wealth and reduce their poverty and reduce their illiteracy, and improve their health care.' "And what I'm postulating is that this is the technology that will enable them. If I didn't have it, it would be an uphill battle. Even with the technology it's an uphill battle. But I have a tool. There is hope. I can reach them in ways that have not been possible before."..Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production | tech |
Computer grid to help the world..Your computer can now help solve the world's most difficult health and social problems...Launched this week, the World Community Grid will use idle computer time to test solutions to these problems. The donated processor cycles will help the WCG create virtual supercomputers via the net. The idea follows the success of other similar projects that have used the untapped processing power of millions of desktop PCs. One of the most successful collaboration projects was Seti@home, run by the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life project, which sorted through radio signals looking for signs of alien communication...Anyone can volunteer to donate the spare time of their computers by downloading a special screensaver from the WGC website. Once installed, the virtual terminal gets a chunk of the computational task to process, and reports back after completing that task. The first WCG problem being tackled will be the Human Proteome Folding Project, which hopes to identify the ways that the proteins in our body fold...The subjects of study are being selected by an international advisory board of experts specializing in health sciences, and technology. The body will evaluate proposals from leading research, public and not-for-profit organizations, and is expected to oversee up to six projects a year. Organisations also represented on the board include the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organisation..."The World Community Grid will enable researchers around the globe to gather and analyze unprecedented quantities of data to help address important global issues," said Elain Gallin, program director for medical research at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. "[It] will inspire us to look beyond the technological limitations that have historically restricted us from addressing some of our most intractable problems", she added. IBM has donated the hardware, software, technical services and expertise to build the basic infrastructure for the grid. The computer company, working with United Devices, previously developed the Smallpox Research Grid, which linked together more than two million volunteers from 226 countries to speed the analysis of some 35 million drug molecules in the search for a treatment for Smallpox. | tech |