February 3rd, 2010 by Richard Morgan

Daily News 03/02

IT PRO – Cyber baddies using the web to hire
The bad guys responsible for creating software that steals financial and personal details are using the web to look for recruits to join them in their illegal activity.

The Register – iPhone vulnerable to remote attack on SSL

Apple’s iPhone is vulnerable to exploits that allow an attacker to spoof web pages even when they’re protected by the SSL, or secure sockets layer, protocol, a security researcher said.

Computerworld UK – China hacking laws to get tougher

Chinese police and judicial officials are formulating new measures that govern how hacking crimes are handled by courts, the country’s latest step to strengthen its cyber laws, state media reported.

Computerworld UK – NASA brings in commercial spaceflight companies

NASA moved quickly to advance its role as commercial space entrepreneur by awarding $50 million (£30m) to five companies who could help design and build future spacecraft that could take astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Computerworld UK – Mozilla releases Firefox for Mobile

The first production version of Firefox for Mobile has been released, for Nokia’s Maemo operating system. But Mozilla already seems to be scaling back its deployment plans, and unexpectedly the mobile browser will not support Adobe Flash.

BBC – ‘Internet addiction’ linked to depression, says study

The study, reported in the journal Psychopathology, found 1.2 per cent of people surveyed were “internet addicts”, and many of these were depressed.

Computing – Social networking to replace email by 2014

The business benefits of social software platforms will lead to email being replaced as the primary means of communication by 2014, according to analyst Gartner. Increasing business use of tools such as Twitter and Facebook has resulted in more demand for such systems, says the firm, which predicts that 20 per cent of organisations will use them as their key communication medium by 2014.

The Daily Telegraph – Mobiles to replace wallets and tickets

The device is already tipped to start replacing credit cards, supermarket loyalty cards and bus passes by as early as 2011, when they will begin to be incorporated into mobiles.

The Daily Telegraph – Internet Explorer 8 becomes the most popular browser in the world

The latest version of Microsoft’s browser has finally overtaken Internet Explorer 6, now accounting for 22.3 per cent of the global browser market in January 2010, according to market share measurements carried out by NetApplications.

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January 27th, 2010 by Chris Measures

Where’s the satnav market gone?

Here’s a rarity for today – a tech blog that’s not about Apple.

Instead what’s caught my attention is the shake-up in the satnav market. From being the must have gadget of a few years ago it looks like a combination of commoditisation (you can buy one for £50 in Argos) and mobile phone apps will kill satnavs as a standalone device.

Anyone with an iPhone will marvel at how easy it is to use Google Maps (and equally how it zaps your battery). And Nokia’s announcement of free, turn by turn navigation through Ovi Maps is a direct threat to Garmin, Tom Tom et al. So if these guys want to survive they need to get creative. Become application providers rather than hardware manufacturers and get your branded content into other people’s devices. Hell, maybe start with the Apple tablet……………

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December 21st, 2009 by Lisa Francis

Daily News: 21/12

Silicon.com – Windows users to get browser choice as antitrust dispute settled
The European Commission has accepted Microsoft’s plan to offer a choice of browsers with Windows PCs sold in Europe.

BBC – Chinese proposal to meter internet traffic
China wants to meter all internet traffic that passes through its borders, it has emerged. The move would require international agreement – but it is being discussed by the United Nations body in charge of internet standards.

BBC – Thousands of shopping websites ‘could be breaking law’
Thousands of internet retailers may be breaking laws that protect customers, claims a consumer advocacy group.

Total Telecom – Nokia, ST-Ericsson sign long-term technology deal
Nokia Corp., the world’s largest mobile handset maker, and chipmaker ST-Ericsson said Friday they are partnering in a long-term technology deal, in a move to enhance their position in the fast growth Chinese market.

Total Telecom -Twitter hacked by ‘Iranian Cyber Army’
Popular microblogging site Twitter was briefly shut down overnight, its home page replaced with an image claiming the site had been hacked by the “Iranian Cyber Army.”

IT PRO – One in five pounds to be spent online by 2020
The internet will account for one in every five pounds of British retail spending by 2020, when online sales of electricals and books will overtake purchases made in store for the first time, according to a new study.

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December 14th, 2009 by Matthew Watson

Daily News 14/12

Computer Weekly – Government plans to launch cloud next year
The Government is creating a blueprint for its private cloud infrastructure and expects to launch across the public sector next year. Working with 100 IT firms on the architecture dubbed the g-cloud, John Suffolk, Her Majesty’s Government CIO told Computer Weekly that he hopes the service will lower IT expenditure.

Computer Weekly – Nokia to shut high street shops to focus on online sales
Nokia is closing its high street retail outlets worldwide in favour of an reinvigorated online sales strategy and greater use of mobile network operators’ retail outlets.

BBC – UK trails on super-fast broadband say OECD figures
The UK is trailing when it comes to next-generation access, new figures show. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the UK is places 21st out of 30 in terms of speed.

CRN – Channel delight at scaled-back NPfIT
Public sector VARs have welcomed news the government could scrap its £12.7bn NHS National Programme for IT.

The Financial Times – Loophole to be closed on UK broadband tax
Ministers are seeking to close a potential loophole in the government’s planned broadband tax by saying consumers should pay the levy even if they only use their phone lines for internet services.

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December 11th, 2009 by Lisa Francis

Daily News 11/12

BBC – Decision delayed on Meteosat team
The choice of an industrial team to build the next generation of weather satellites – or Meteosats – for Europe has been delayed by three months.

Computing.co.uk – IT managers need to be more honest with staff
Many IT and telecoms workers remain in the dark about their employers business goals, according to new research conducted by YouGov, a situation that has a negative effect on their motivation, productivity and innovation.

IT PRO – Nokia shuts London shop
Nokia is closing retail stores around the world, including it’s flagship location on London’s Regent street, just down from the Apple Store.

IT PRO – Samsung unveils bada smartphone platform
Samsung has unveiled its new smartphone platform bada, in addition to a software development kit (SDK), which it claims will deliver benefits to operators, developers and users alike.

Computer Weekly – Companies failing to keep up with the internet
Companies are failing to keep up with the pace of change on the internet, according to Jeremiah Owyang, a partner at consultancy Altimeter Group. “Most companies can’t keep up with the slow web, let alone the future web,” he said, speaking at the Le Web conference in Paris.

CBR – Open-source BI to grow five-fold through 2012: Gartner
Open-source business intelligence (BI) tools are becoming a mainstream deployment option for all kinds of BI usage, according to Gartner. Gartner analysts said that while functionality is not yet on par with large commercial platforms and is still rarely seen as an enterprisewide BI standard, open-source BI tool deployment is growing solidly.

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December 4th, 2009 by Lisa Francis

Daily News 04/12

Computing.co.uk – Giant data centre to heat London homes
An £80m green data centre under construction in east London will use 9MW of surplus heat created by racks of severs to power residential and business properties in the surrounding area.

BBC – Google set to offer property dimension to UK mapping
Google is set to launch a property dimension to its UK mapping system. The new service will allow estate agents and private sellers to put their property as an overlay on Google Maps.

BBC – World Cup games to be filmed in 3D
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be filmed in 3D for the first time, it has been confirmed.

IT Pro – Nokia to halve smartphone portfolio
The world’s leading handset manufacturer has announced it will cut its portfolio by half to keep on top of competition from other vendors.

The Register – Cell phones don’t fry brains, boffins say
A new Scandinavian study has been released, indicating that cell-phone usage doesn’t lead to an increased risk of brain cancer.

Total Telecom – Twitter founder squares up to m-payments market
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s new start-up, Square, is set to take an unusual approach to the mobile payments sector by enabling anyone with a touch screen smartphone to accept credit card payments.

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November 20th, 2009 by Matthew Watson

Daily News 20/11

Information Age – Two arrested in the UK over financially motivated Trojan
A man and a woman have been arrested in Manchester in connection with the zbot Trojan, the most widespread example of malware specifically designed to help hackers steal money from their victims.

Silicon.com – Outsourcers to fall victim to cloud computing rush
As businesses begin to host their IT systems in the cloud – instead of hiring outsourcers to maintain and integrate their systems – outsourcers could start to feel the pain, according to author and technology thinker Nicholas Carr.

The Guardian – Mandelson seeks to amend copyright law in new crackdown on filesharing
Lord Mandelson is seeking to amend the laws on copyright to give the government sweeping new powers against people accused of illegal downloading.

Computer Weekly – CERN prepares Large Hadron Collider for second firing
Scientists are preparing the world’s most powerful atom smasher to restart more than a year after it overheated and failed in initial trials. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland has been handed over for operation, according to the update service on Twitter.

IT PRO – Nokia says businesses want its netbook
Nokia has seen growing interest among companies for its first netbook or mini-laptop, a company executive said today. “When we launched the Booklet 3G … we thought it to be primarily a consumer device, but after the launch a big, growing interest is coming from companies,” Heikki Norta, head of Nokia corporate strategy, told a seminar.

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November 12th, 2009 by Matthew Watson

NatWest banks on iPhone app

NatWest today released a free mobile application that allows the bank’s customers to check their account balances, view recent transactions and manage their money on the move. But only if they have an iPhone!

While it is fantastic that brands are now flocking to the iPhone, perhaps they should consider developing applications for other mobile handsets too or they could risk alienating large parts of their target audiences. For many brands I imagine that the cost of developing and maintaining an application for several different platforms at once could be restrictive, especially if it is their first foray into the world of mobile apps and their marketing budgets are already looking tight.

But this need not be the case. I recently went along to the launch of Airplay SDK 4.0, a mobile application development and deployment solution. Airplay allows mobile developers to deploy applications with a single click across platforms including iPhone, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and many more. This seems like a much more effective route to targeting your customers, than sticking to one particular mobile handset. No matter how cool it is!

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July 17th, 2009 by Matthew Watson

Hot off the press 17/7

IT Pro – Symbian to launch app development service
The Symbian Foundation today announced a new app developing service, which it plans to launch in October. Named Symbian Horizon, the service will help developers create and test apps from a central location before distributing them to individual existing outlets such as Nokia’s Ovi store or Samsung’s Application store.

Computing – Asos replaces email management software
Online fashion retailer Asos has replaced Microsoft Outlook with a new system to improve the handling of customer queries sent via email. On receipt of emails, the new software provides automated and recommended responses to agents and also includes complete customer information and interaction history.

Computing – Most of Whitehall still using Internet Explorer 6
The government’s own security advice, revealed ten Whitehall departments including the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Health, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are still using Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). The revelations come after a series of parliamentary questions from Tom Watson, who stepped down from his role as minister for digital engagement earlier this year.

FT.com – IBM adds to signs of comeback in sector
IBM reported an unexpected surge in quarterly profit yesterday, providing further evidence that the technology industry is poised for a comeback in the second half of the year

Computer Weekly – Will sharing IT save UK building societies?
Building societies could compete more effectively with banks and other larger competitors by sharing IT services.

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