 Skype and Bebo team up
Skype, the hugely successful voice-over IP (VoIP) provider and Bebo, the UK's largest high school and college communication website have announced a partnership to bring the benefits of Skype to users of the Bebo service.
The service will integrate SkypeWeb, a service that allows users to see if their Skype buddies are available, and call them from a web-based interface. The aim is to supply students with free instant messaging as well as voice and video conversations. Bebo is also one of the largest websites of its kind in the US, Australia and New Zealand.
"We are in a unique position to enable high school and college students worldwide to easily connect, learn more about each other and keep in touch," said Jim Scheinman, vice president of business development and sales at Bebo.
Bebo joins a list of around 50 websites that are intergrating the SkypeWeb service into their communities. The Skype revolution continues.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:05 pm
News Source : Neowin
 Nokia, Motorola, Intel Form Mobile TV Alliance
Today, a group of the industry's leading wireless and entertainment companies announced the formation of new organization created to promote the growth and evolution of Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld (DVB-H), an open procedure standard for broadcast digital TV reception on mobile devices. The organization, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, includes representatives from Intel Corporation, Modeo, Motorola, Nokia and Texas Instruments.
As mobile video entertainment gains increased awareness and achieves greater availability, the Alliance will focus on promoting the best practices and open standards that deliver premium-quality broadcast television to mobile devices for the North American market. "The mobile TV market is heating up, with both trials and deployments accelerating over the next 12-18 months," said David Linsalata, Research Analyst for Mobile Markets at IDC.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:05 pm
News Source : TechNews
 Cyberdissident Imprisoned Because of Data Provided by Yahoo
Reporters Without Borders called on Yahoo! to supply a list of all cyber dissidents it has provided data on, beginning with 81 people in China whose release the worldwide press freedom organization is currently campaigning for.
It said it had discovered that Yahoo! customer and cyber dissidents Li Zhi had been given his eight-year prison sentence in December 2003 based on electronic records provided by Yahoo. ?How many more cases are we going to find?? it asked. ?We were sure the case of Shi Tao, who was jailed for 10 years last April on the basis of Yahoo-supplied data, was not the only one. Now we know Yahoo works regularly and efficiently with the Chinese police.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:04 pm
News Source : Reporters Without Borders
Korean Antitrust Regulators Visit Intel
The Korean Fair Trade Commission popped into Intel unannounced this week to seek more documents on an antitrust claim in South Korea.
The KTFC is looking into whether Intel has used marketing programs, product discounts or sales quotas in a manner that violated Korean antitrust law. Last year, the Japanese FTC asserted that Intel signed contracts with Japanese PC makers that effectively required these companies to limit the amount of processors they buy from Advanced Micro Devices.
Intel disputed the JFTC's finding of facts and law, but it agreed to send relevant employees to mandatory training classes and to give up some business practices. Intel did not pay fines. The nature of the raid in Seoul depends on one's perspective. AMD called the visit by the KFTC a dawn raid and used the terms "dawn raid" and "dawn raids" at least seven times in a press release.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 13, 2006, 4:04 pm
News Source : CNet
Sony Unveils Blu-ray Pricing, Format Bundling
Sony Pictures announced pricing for its Blu-ray movie titles today, becoming the first major studio to do so. In addition, it announced plans to bundle multiple formats in a low-cost package, beginning with DVD/UMD bundles next month.
Catalog Blu-ray titles will wholesale at $17.95, which is roughly the same price that DVDs debuted at in 1997. New releases will wholesale for $23.45, a 15 to 20 percent premium over new release DVD titles. This is done to accommodate sell-through and rental markets, according to Benjamin Feingold, president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The discs should start appearing on store shelves in early summer.
Sony Pictures also announced a plan to bundle movies in different formats at a lower price point. Starting March 28th, it will release DVD/UMD (PSP disc) combo packages of six titles including "The Grudge" and "Resident Evil." Second wave titles, coming April 25th, include "Snatch" and "Ghostbusters," with a third set due in May. Combos will be priced at $28.95, which is considerably lower than the retail price for each format purchased individually.
The combo packages are a taste of what consumers can expect in the future, when combinations of Blu-ray, standard DVD, and UMD packages could hit store shelves and consumers migrate to the new format.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 4:19 pm
News Source : Reuters
Microsoft prices and dates OneCare service
Microsoft has revealed more details of its all-in-one PC care service dubbed OneCare Live.
Already in beta, the subscription-based package will be officially released in the US in June from retailers and via the Web. A year's subscription will cost $49.95 and will cover up to three personal computers.
The suite will offer anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall components, as well as performance optimisation utilities and back up and restore tools. Technical support - in the form of e-mail, phone and chat - will be included as part of the package.
The automatic and self-updating service is intended to make it simpler for consumers to protect and maintain their PCs. With numerous security threats exploiting the slothfulness of consumers to patch their machines in a timely manner, Microsoft will be aiming squarely at users looking to offload responsibility for maintaining their own systems. Combined with a low price, the proposition could prove attractive to a large proportion of the Windows user base.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 4:18 pm
News Source : PC Pro
 NVIDIA Accused of hiring actors to post on forums
The Consumerist, an online editorial blog has claimed that NVIDIA hires actors to post on gamer enthusiast forums in order to raise positive awareness of its products. The website claims that employees are expected to post on at least 50 forums with a target of 100, and up to 5 posts an hour.
Public Relations Director Derek Perez eventually responded to the website after reading the article online, he stated:
"Boy - read your article - you couldn?t have gotten it more wrong.
Do you really not know what AEG does? Did you go to their website? Do you understand their business?
Seems before you write an editorial article on this you would educate yourself."
It seems that wasn't the response they were looking for because the chip maker is now placed in the 'Evil' category of the website. Not surprisingly, a search for ATi turned up no results.
NVIDIA enlists AEG to manage Public Relations specific to online communities, while this is common practice for most companies to have some sort of fan-base PR, the claims appear to have gone wild with some sort of conspiracy that NVIDIA actually hires armies of fans to spam gamer forums with the hope that more people will buy their products.
A quick look at their clients page also shows Atari, Microsoft and Stardock among their client base. Are we to assume that they also hire people to sway opinion on community websites?
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 4:01 pm
News Source : Elite Bastards
BT: 35,000 Child Porn Blocks a Day
According to admittedly conservative reports released by British Telecom, at least 35,000 attempts to access child pornography are blocked each day in Britain. While already somewhat shocking, BT warned that the actual figures could be much higher.
BT, which provides home internet access to one-third of British users, said attempts to bypass its filters by its three million customers have tripled in the past 18 months. The company's Cleanfeed program prevents access to sites blacklisted by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in compliance with the 1978 Child Protection Act.
When the technology was introduced in 2004, around 10,000 attempts per day were blocked, a relatively low number by comparison. In the last four months there have been four million access attempts alone.
IWF operations manager Frank Glenn agreed that the numbers were troublesome, but pointed out that many of the logged attempts could be unsolicited in the form of popups or spam emails.
While the Cleanfeed system blocks access to blacklisted sites, it does not record any information about the user. The numbers from BT do not reflect the other two-thirds of the home market receiving access from other providers.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 4:00 pm
News Source : Guardian Unlimited Technology
DDR2 Prices Soar This Month
According to DRAMeXchange, a research company which tracks prices of DRAM modules and flash memory, increases in contract rates from major RAM manufacturers have sent up DDR2 prices 18 percent from the second half of January.
Korea-based Samsung and Hynix, which combined hold 40 percent of the world's DRAM market, both raised their contract prices this month due to capacity concerns. Hynix hiked prices 5-10 percent, while Samsung, which chose not to give specific numbers, raised prices "significantly" according to statements by company officials in a recent Bloomberg report. Taiwanese manufacturers Nanya Technology and ProMOS raised rates in the arena of 20 percent, reflecting what ProMOS called "insufficient supply."
The shortages could be a major concern with AMD making the leap to DDR2 this year with its Socket AM2 platform. Intel made the jump with its 9xx chipsets in 2004.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 4:00 pm
News Source : Digi Times
Online Member Communities Shaping the Internet & Society
Internet media and market research firm Nielsen//NetRatings has released a report detailing the growth of online communities such as Friends Reunited, Blogger, MySpace, and many others. Over 57 million member community web pages are viewed per day totaling almost 1.8 billion viewed monthly by their members. In the UK alone over half of the online population participates in a member based online community site.
Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings says ?Whilst most of the talk about the future of the web revolves around which of the giant media companies will win the battle to enable people to watch TV through the Internet, a revolution of more immediate substance is already underway. The popularity of social networking and community sites in the UK are growing day by day ? particularly amongst the young who, after all, will be responsible for the future of the Internet. Sites such as MySpace, bebo and MSN Spaces dominate those most likely to be visited by the teenage market. The future of online to the young is about what the Internet is best at ? communicating and interacting - not watching TV. The sheer volume in the way that people use these sites, whether it?s finding friends, family or sharing their experiences and lives with others, is connecting and bringing people together in a way that was unimaginable before the Internet. It has fundamentally shifted, perhaps even created, the way in which new micro-societies are being formed and relate to each other. It will be interesting to see how these affect the general construction of society in the years to come as the web increasingly underpins more of our daily lives.?
Boasting membership of over five million online and one million plus visitors per day, Faceparty is the number one community site in the UK totaling more pages viewed per person than Google, eBay, and the BBC combined.
Burmaster continues ?Member communities are the most popular brands in the UK when you look at it in terms of the average number of web pages viewed per visitor. For example, if you consider that just the average Faceparty visitor views 23 pages within that site every day you can begin to comprehend how deeply ingrained the member community experience is in the lives of today?s online population.?
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:59 pm
News Source : Nielsen//NetRatings
Google to Combine Google Talk Features With Gmail
In it's ever increasing endeavors to lure users to its services, search engine giant Google Inc. has announced plans to join its popular Gmail e-mail service with its Google Talk Instant Messaging service. By combining services Gmail users will be able to see a list of their Google Talk contacts and will be able to tell whether a contact is available for Instant Messaging. Google hopes that by combining services it will make it easier for users to stay in contact and will draw more users to both its Gmail and Google Talk services.
Of course the hopes for Google are that by increasing the user base of these services it will also increase its income from advertising, from which it profited $1.5 billion on sales of $6.1 billion in 2005. All in all, it?s a win-win situation, or as close as you can get to one in this day and age. The user gets increased functionality of free services and the draw to invite their friends and family members to use the services, and Google in return gets more ads displayed which of course equals increased revenues. Page ads I can deal with, as long as they don't resort to pop-up/under ads, I won't complain.
According to google vice president of product management Salar Kamangar, the new integration of Google Talk features will begin showing up in Gmail accounts on Tuesday and should be available to all Gmail users within the next few weeks.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:59 pm
News Source : KTVB
Opera and BitTorrent Partnership
Yesterday Opera announced plans to include the BitTorrent protocol in its Opera web browser. The pair signed an agreement allowing Opera to use the BitTorrent trademark and access the BitTorrent search engine from the browser's user interface.
Opera claim that integrating the technology will allow more efficient and quicker downloads of large files. A preview of the Opera 9 browser is expected to be released soon.
The BitTorrent service will be offered to Opera users in two ways. Users can search for torrent files in the browser's integrated search field, or, when a file has been selected, Opera's Transfer Manager feature will handle the download. Separate software will no longer be needed to search and download content.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:58 pm
News Source : Opera Beta Site
Intel Activates Xeon Virtualization Tech
Users with servers powered by Intel's "Paxville" Xeon MP processor can now activate the chip's virtualization capabilities. Speaking at a conference here on virtualization, Diane Bryant, vice president and general manager of Intel's Server Platforms Group, said that users can now contact systems makers Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM to help them upgrade the BIOS on the chip to enable the activation of the Intel Virtualization Technology.
The technology was in the chip when it started shipping last year, but it was disabled until now. "You can now enable virtualization technology in your servers and start running it in your testing and development environments," Bryant told the conference attendees. She also noted support from Red Hat and Novell's SuSE Linux unit for the open-source Xen virtualization technology, and announced virtualization software vendor VMware's release Feb. 6 of its free VMware Server product.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:58 pm
News Source : eWeek
IBM Creates Chips for Faster Wireless Data
International Business Machines Corp. on Monday said it has developed new chips for quickly transmitting data over wireless networks. The chips use a portion of the radio spectrum that can carry more data at faster speeds, IBM said. That could make them useful for sending high-definition video from a DVD player to a television or downloading digital photos through a wireless connection, the company said.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:57 pm
News Source : Reuters
Microsoft Faces First European Union Antitrust Fines
Microsoft Corp. looks more than likely to earn a place in history by becoming the first company to be hit with daily fines by the European Union for failing to respect an antitrust ruling.The E.U.'s highest antitrust official, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, has given the company until Feb. 15 to comply with the Commission's March 2004 ruling or face a fine of up to ?2 million (US$2.4 million) a day.
Events of recent weeks indicate that the company will not meet the Commission's demands by that date, so the procedure will be launched to impose daily penalties. This view is shared not just by Microsoft's rivals and complainants in the case, but also independent analysts. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if the E.U. went ahead and fined Microsoft," said Gary Barnett, an analyst covering the company at Ovum Ltd. in the U.K.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:57 pm
News Source : InfoWorld
Plan to Charge Businesses for E-Mail Triggers Outcry
America Online's plan to start charging businesses to send commercial e-mail messages is creating an uproar among some marketers, a newspaper reported Monday. Some marketers argue AOL's plan to implement a certified e-mail system, which could charge advertisers $2 to $3 per 1,000 messages, is a form of e-mail taxation, USA Today said.
Last October, AOL and Yahoo! both agreed to deploy a certified e-mail system designed by technology firm Goodmail Systems. AOL is testing the program and plans to implement it within the next month or two, AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham told CNNMoney.com. Yahoo!, which said when it signed up with Goodmail that it would work with the company to certify messages containing bank statements, receipts and other "transactional" messages, is also expected to implement the system in coming months.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: February 8, 2006, 3:56 pm
News Source : CNN Money
 Nyxem Countdown Begins
Anti-virus companies are advising that everyone scan their machines before February 3, when the destructive virus known as Nyxem will delete a multitude of filetypes.
The virus has picked up a few names along the way, and is also known as: Blackmal, MyWife, Kama Sutra, Grew and CME-24. Spread by email attachments promising pornographic material, the virus will wait till the 3rd of each month to wreak its havoc.
Once a machine is infected the virus searches email address books for targets, and even other PCs on the local area network.
Files will be deleted if they are of the following types: DMP, DOC, XLS, MDB, MDE, PDF, PPS, PPT, PSD, RAR and ZIP.
There are plenty of anti-virus solutions that won't cost you a penny, two of which are Grisoft's AVG and AntiVir.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: January 30, 2006, 4:12 pm
News Source : BBC News
Download : Grisoft AVG
 The best gaming mouse: Logitech G5 vs. Razer Copperhead
In our last gaming mice showdown, the Logitech MX518 came on top of both the Razer Diamondback and Razer Viper. Since then however, new products have been released by both companies, and we are glad to inform you we have had several weeks to test them and report back to you. The contenders: the Logitech G5 and the Razer Copperhead, both considered the companies? flagship gaming products, both corded mice, and both tracking at an impressive 2000dpi. This is a head-to-head showdown to see which company has the best gaming mouse currently available.
Serious gamers will look for every possible edge over the competition, and a high-quality mouse can result in huge benefits. Both of these products were released in late 2005, and luckily for all of us prices have already gone down a notch from their original retail price, making for a more affordable choice even for those casual gamers still wanting the latest in comfort and precision when needed.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: January 25, 2006, 4:33 pm
News Source : Techspot
Editing tips from the NSA
Hiding confidential information with black marks works on printed copy, but not with electronic documents, the National Security Agency has warned government officials.
The agency makes the point in a guidance paper on editing documents for release, published following several embarrassing incidents in which sensitive data was unintentionally included in computer documents and exposed. Instead of covering up digital text with black boxes, it is better to delete any information you don't want to share, the NSA suggested.
The unintended disclosure of metadata, resulting in high-profile leaks of secrets, has led to red faces at businesses and government bodies in the past. In March 2004, a gaffe by The SCO Group revealed which companies it had considered targeting in its legal campaign against Linux users.
The 13-page paper is called: "Redacting with confidence: How to safely publish sanitized reports converted from Word to PDF."
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: January 25, 2006, 4:31 pm
News Source : News.com
Download : Redacting with Confidence (PDF)
Google Execs Keep $1 Salaries
Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders and co-presidents Larry Page and Sergey Brin will retain the $1 paid salaries from 2005, according to a filing this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The three will instead rely on stock options and grants for their pay.
The action, approved by Google last week but only made known yesterday came during a week in which Google's stock lost 14 percent amidst fears stemming from a flap with U.S. Justice Department. However, don't expect to see these men on the streets any time soon. Google's stock recovered 7 percent yesterday, meaning that Schmidt's stock value alone increased $413.8 million in a single day of trading. His total wealth in shares is estimated at $6.3 billion.
Google's policy of paying top executives $1 started in the second quarter of 2004, leading up to the company's initial public offering in August 2004.
News Posted by : GoogleFreak On
: January 25, 2006, 4:28 pm
News Source : CNet
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