The most recent News from Incisive Media

Microsoft tops global online property charts

Phil Muncaster — 2009-11-07T12:10:00.000Z

Phil Muncaster, V3.co.uk, Saturday 7 November 2009 at 12:10:00

Redmond beats Google and Yahoo to first spot

There was good news for Microsoft in its battle for the hearts and minds of internet users today, as new figures from market research firm comScore found that the firm was the most engaging global property online in September.

Data from the comScore World Metrix service found that Microsoft Sites captured nearly 15 per cent of time spent online worldwide in September, putting it into first place ahead of Google and Yahoo.

Facebook.com in fourth continued to show impressive growth, however, with visitors spending 1.4 billion hours on the site in September, up a massive 193 per cent from the previous year.

Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger represented nearly 70 per cent of time spent on the property during the month, while for Google, YouTube was its most popular site, accounting for nearly half of total time spent (1.2 billion hours) on the property.

While Microsoft remained top dog in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East – Africa regfions, however, Yahoo triumphed in North America.

“With the U.S. economy only now emerging from a recession, many multinational corporations have shifted the focus of their growth strategies towards developing markets and the internet represents an important aspect of those strategies,” said executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix, Jack Flanagan.

“Understanding the global internet landscape is the first step towards executing effective marketing strategies in these growing markets.”

Twitter rolls out retweet feature

Phil Muncaster — 2009-11-07T12:04:00.000Z

Phil Muncaster, V3.co.uk, Saturday 7 November 2009 at 12:04:00

Service will be available to limited number of users at first

Popular micro-blogging site Twitter has announced it is rolling out an automated retweet feature on a limited number of accounts to see how it works in the wild.

In a blog posting, co-founder Biz Stone explained that the retweet button would make “forwarding a particularly interesting tweet to all your followers very easy”.

“In turn, we hope interesting, newsworthy, or even just plain funny information will spread quickly through the network making its way efficiently to the people who want or need to know,” he added.

Back in August, Stone wrote that his team were working on a way to formalise the process of retweeting in order to enable smoother and more comprehensive access to information across the micro-blogging site.

The idea behind sharing these plans a few months ago was to get developers on board so they could think about how to incorporate the functionality into Twitter applications. However, the plan appears to have been held up somewhat, considering Stone promised in August that the automated retweet functionality would be available “in a few weeks or so”.

“Now we're ready to start trying it on Twitter,” wrote Stone. “The plan is to see how it goes first with this small release. If it needs more work, then we'll know right away. If things look good, we'll proceed with releasing the feature in stages eventually arriving at 100 per cent.”

Mossad laptop hack behind nuclear strike reports suggest

Iain Thomson in San Francisco — 2009-11-07T08:31:00.000Z

Iain Thomson in San Francisco, V3.co.uk, Saturday 7 November 2009 at 08:31:00

Schneier warns against hotel maid attack

Reports in Der Spiegel suggest that the Israeli air strike against claimed nuclear facilities in Syria were targeted after Mossad successfully hacked a laptop left in a London hotel bedroom.

The report says that in late 2006 a senior Syrian diplomat staying in London left his laptop unattended in an London hotel, giving Mossad the chance to install a Trojan on the computer that allowed communications to be monitored.

On September 6 the next year the Israeli air force carried out a strike on the Syrian Al Kabir complex in the east of the country. Syrian government media gave little details of the attack, other than to say that Israeli aircraft had dropped munitions on an empty portion of the country before being seen off by local air defences.

In 2008 the International Atomic Energy Agency analysed soil at Al Kabir and found it contained uranium elements not included in Syria's nuclear inventory. Sources in Syria suggest the material was dropped by Israeli planes to justify the attack.

Security expert Bruce Schneier highlighted the case in his blog, saying it was similar to an attack carried out in 2009 where an outside party could install malware on a separate bootloader segment on the hard drive so that it would access any files, even if encrypted. He calls it the 'evil maid' attack.

“Remember the evil maid attack: if an attacker gets hold of your computer temporarily, he can bypass your encryption software,” he said.

The physical security of laptop computers is an increasing important issue for those travelling abroad. The US government has warned visitors to China to keep their laptops under constant surveillance while in the country.

Thunderbird 3 out this month

Iain Thomson in San Francisco — 2009-11-07T07:53:00.000Z

Iain Thomson in San Francisco, V3.co.uk, Saturday 7 November 2009 at 07:53:00

Open source email system gets a makeover

The Mozilla Foundation has announced that the latest version of its Thunderbird email system will be out this month.

The release candidate version of Thunderbird 3 will be out next week and the company expects the final version to be released by mid-November, although it hasn't set a firm launch date in line with Mozilla's long-standing policy of releasing software when it's ready and not before.

Mozilla is claiming that 2,000 individual improvements have been made to the Thunderbird. Chief among these are a new search tool that uses and SQL back end but a Mozilla-developed algorithm.

Users can search multiple email accounts and then filter research by the date the email was sent or received, by whom it received for or directed too and by keywords.

Other improvements include a host of new skins for the platform, tabbed email to allow for multiple displays simultaneously and improved archiving.

Mozilla is also expecting a boost in takeup from the recent launch of Windows 7.

“The fact that Windows 7 was launched with no native email client is very encouraging,” Mozilla's director of marketing told V3.co.uk.

“It'll give a lot of users more of a chance to try out Thunderbird and see for themselves.”

Top 10 technologies in a death spiral

Iain Thomson and Shaun Nichols in San Francisco — 2009-11-07T07:31:00.000Z

Iain Thomson and Shaun Nichols in San Francisco, V3.co.uk, Saturday 7 November 2009 at 07:31:00

Soon to be departed technologies

Earlier this week, people in Mexico and the US recognized Dia De Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday which recognizes friends and loved ones which have recently departed.

So this week we have decided to recognize some technologies which have recently or will soon be leaving the technology mainstream. Unlike other recent lists, this was fairly easy to construct and there was limited, if occasionally spirited (no pun intended), debate about its order.

Some technologies didn't make it onto the list. Dial-up connections were squeezed out because they are still used by the majority of the world to access the internet, and are still a last ditch method for those of us in the West.

Similarly dot-matrix printing also didn't make it on here, because it is still widely used in certain key vertical markets. My garage still uses dot-matrix printers because the printing head will punch through three layers of paper at a time and they don't mind the noise as it's drowned out by the lathe and buffing machines, and Randy's tuneless singing.

Still, with so many technologies falling by the wayside, we almost certainly overlooked a few so feel free to contribute additions in the comment section.

Honourable mention: Power Cables

Iain Thomson: Shaun was a little sceptical about this one but I think the power cable is going the way of the dinosaurs thanks to growing interest in wireless power.

Palm Pre owners will already be familiar with the concept of wireless power. The Pre sits on a power block and recharges wirelessly with no need for a dedicated power supply. It’s a great little system in a lot of ways.

And who would really mourn the lack of power cables? Most computer users who go on the road have suffered from forgetting to pack power cables at the last minute and had to either buy a replacement or get the unit shipped to their destination. In the last year I’ve had to buy a power cable for an iPod (£10) and have a laptop power brick shipped to me ($100 in customs and shipping charges).

There are problems with wireless power however. It’s not terribly efficient for a start, but manufacturers are recognising it’s the wave of the future and are devising common standards for so that the power brick could be a thing of the past.

Shaun Nichols: I'm still not completely sold on this one, but there is no doubting that cordless power systems are emerging in a big way, and for certain areas the switch can't come soon enough.

Just about anyone who has ever owned a notebook computer can tell stories about people or pets walking past and tripping over a power cord, often with disastrous consequences.

There's also the convenience factor. Who hasn't had to wander around an office or public building searching for an outlet with which to recharge your phone? Wireless power systems can go a long way to relieving the pains of having to charge up electronic devices.

Honourable Mention: Disk-based storage

Shaun Nichols: One of the most popular new technologies in recent years has been the solid-state hard drive (SSD.) Once only offered in the highest of high-end computers and servers, the SSD is increasingly making its way into everyday consumer PCs and enterprise workstations.

SSDs have a number of advantages over disk-based storage. For starters, Flash memory is much faster, cutting down on startup and seek times. Additionally, SSDs are becoming as reliable as the conventional drives. As a result, the market for the old platter-based hard drive is shrinking.

That doesn't mean that disk-based drives will disappear entirely. Despite falling prices, Flash memory is still far more expensive than platter storage. For large-scale storage systems, the conventional hard drive has a stable future.

Iain Thomson: Hmm, I'm sceptical on this one. Disk storage has one major advantage over Flash – what gets written stays written, barring proximity to a major magnet. Call me a curmudgeon but I don't trust Flash for long term safe storage.

Nevertheless it can't be denied that the SSD is the wave of the future. The advantages in speed and power savings are hard to argue with, certainly on desktop and laptop computers. I don't think datacentres are going to buy into Flash in a big way any time soon – the cost would be prohibitive – but storage manufacturers are already bringing out Flash/disk hybrids for use in servers.

But the disk system will survive for the foreseeable future in my opinion, because it provides data security, sometimes a little too much. I got into a conversation with a UK computer police expert about the safest way to wipe data from a disk drive and she said that the technology for retrieving data had now got to the point that the only way to be sure your data was irretreivable was to use a sledgehammer, petrol and matches.

10. The operating system

Shaun Nichols: No, the OS isn't exactly disappearing any time soon, but it is becoming less relevant by the day. As web-based applications become more popular, the locally-stored operating system is becoming less of a factor.

This is also making the OS a much weaker selling point for new systems. While consumers used to be bound to one operating system or another because of the need to run specific applications, web apps are increasingly making that a moot point, much to the delight of the Mac and Linux crowds.

A shining example of this was the release of Windows 7. While Microsoft as much money and effort into hyping Windows 7 as any other version of the OS, the response from the general public wasn't too much out of the ordinary.

Iain Thomson: Oddly enough this was the most argued point in the entire list. Shaun makes a good case, but I still maintain that the operating system will be around as long as there are computers.

That said, Shaun does have a point in that the operating system is becoming less and less important. What I hope we'll see is a plethora of operating systems for individual devices and computers. Yes, this won't be great for developers but it will put a considerable roadblock in the way of malware writers.

However, if certain common standards can be worked out developers won't be too hampered too much and we'll get a bit more security in the IT world. Unfortunately I suspect malware writers will adapt. Those gits are like the flu virus, they just evolve and make life even more of a pain for all of us.

9. Landlines

Iain Thomson: Landlines are in many ways a 20th century hangover. Go to any developing nation and suggest they lay down copper cable all over their countries for phone or internet services and they’ll look at you like you’re mad.

Wireless technology has the potential to reach a wider pool of people for less cost and with greater efficiency than landlines will ever be able to do. Yes, dedicated fibre links are very useful for high bandwidth needs but Wi-Fi, and increasingly WiMax, will remove the need for landline altogether for 90 per cent of the population.

Data cabling was a necessity in the early days of computing and is still required for most broadband connections today. When the move to mass home broadband in the West came it was natural to use the existing copper infrastructure as the conduit.

But technologies such as WiMax are rapidly making the need for dedicated wired connections redundant and with any luck landlines will be seen as a quaint anachronism in the future.

Shaun Nichols: Like many people my age, I do not have a landline telephone connection in my apartment. In fact, aside from the cable lines running into the living room and a few power cords, my whole dwelling is almost completely cordless.

It's not too crazy to suggest that the landline will completely disappear in the coming decades. And conventional cable might not be too far behind, with fibre-optic lines and wireless systems increasingly finding their way into the greater consumer market.

One question which may arise, however, is that of interference. The 802.11n standard is built to automatically reduce its spectrum use when other wireless devices are detected, and as more and more people switch over, similar systems may have to be developed to prevent the vast array of wireless devices out there from interfering with one another.

8. The portable media player

Shaun Nichols: Oh MP3 player, we hardly knew thee. After less than a decade in the market, it seems that the portable media player as we know it is beginning to fade from general public consciousness.

It's not because the products didn't have a market, or didn't develop, or were just a fad. The problem for the dedicated media player is that it is being pushed out of the market by the smartphone. As handsets become more powerful and Flash memory becomes cheaper, more and more people are choosing to load their music onto their phones and leaving their portable players at home.

The most interesting example of this is Apple. While the iPhone has been wildly successful, the iPod remains a huge cash cow for the company. The increasing sales for the smartphone have to be a little bitter-sweet for the company, as each new iPhone sold increasingly suggests that an iPod will go unsold as a result.

Iain Thomson: Apple really made the media player industry. I used media players from the start and they were uniformly awful. Lousy menu systems, clunky sync software and stunningly poor design were the norm. Creative even brought out a 6GB media player that was the size of a CD player, was considerably heavier and had the battery life equivalent to a snowflake in a blast furnace.

It was the iPod that changed all that. As an avowed Apple sceptic I held off on getting one for a long time but I have to say it's my second most used bit of kit, after my laptop. It was easy enough for anyone to understand, looked fantastic and the initial few versions of iTunes were a joy to use - although that application went downhill like the Nepalise bobsleigh team.

But now Flash memory is so cheap that increasingly phones are the new media players. The first attempts, like the Motorola RokR, were dire but things have come on apace and the dedicated media player will die out over time.

7. Tape storage

Iain Thomson: It’s remarkable that tape has lasted as long as it has. The only reason that I can see is that it is very cheap.

Other than that tape has few real advantages. It is slow to write and retrieve when it comes to data, particularly when you take into account the time needed to physically shift over tapes from storage to the reader and back again. It’s also relatively flimsy, as anyone from the age of the video or cassette knows only too well.

Tape is a relic from an earlier age when we had to make do with the technology that was available. This is no longer the case and tape should be consigned to the dustbin of history as soon as possible.

Shaun Nichols: Unlike most other areas of the technology world, the storage market doesn't progress at a break-neck speed which makes the latest and greatest innovations completely obsolete in less than ten years.

In almost every way, a computer from the early 1980s bears little to no resemblance to modern systems and the technology it uses would be more or less useless today. There is one exception, however. The magnetic tape drives used for storage three decades ago are still in use today, though in far larger capacities.

Tape storage hits a sweet spot of sorts with the storage market. It is cheap and is well-established. This makes it ideal for use in very large capacity backup purposes. Until platter-based storage becomes equally cheap and dense, I suspect that tape storage will continue to have a market in the enterprise space.

6. FireWire

Shaun Nichols: It's not always the bad technologies that fall by the wayside. FireWire was a solid system, but it never really got off the ground.

Originally, Apple developed the IEEE 1394 interface to be a high-speed serial connection to compliment the emerging USB specification. The idea was that USB would take over the low-bandwidth connections previously served through the serial port, while FireWire would replace the high-end peripheral market which was at the time dominated by SCSI.

Then USB 2.0 came along and messed everything up for FireWire. Rather than adopt the new standard, most vendors and consumers opted instead to go with the USB interface. As a result, FireWire didn't spread much beyond the high-end digital video market and the Macintosh models of the early and mid 2000s.

Iain Thomson: FireWire built itself a highly profitable sector in the digital video market but has been outpaced by USB and is finally being abandoned by its last allies.

The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, as Shaun has pointed out, the data capacity of USB 2.0 and now USB 3.0 first matched and has now surpassed that of FireWire. USB really came from behind at FireWire but has caught up admirably quickly.

Secondly IT standards are in many ways a numbers game. There are huge numbers of USB ports out there and they are the de facto standard for device connection. If you wanted FireWire, and you weren't an Apple owner, then you had to order it as an extra in most cases and that additional cost wasn't something many people were willing to stomach.

5. Peripherals cables

Iain Thomson: When I survey the wreckage of my desk one thing is immediately obvious. Among the half-drunk mugs of tea, crumpled press releases and semi-consumed lunch is a snake’s nest of cable. I can count eight sets alone, all of which knot themselves together when no-one’s around. Doing without these will be a blessing when it happens. And happen it will, one day.

We thought the nightmare of cabling was going to be over long ago. When Bluetooth was first coming out the manufacturers promised that cable would shortly be a thing of the past. Instead the technology has only worked in the last few years because manufacturers stuck their own software into the stack and ruined compatibility.

Currently it’s really only mice and keyboards that are wireless in any large-scale way, but once the standards are worked out we’ll be able to get much higher speed data communication between devices wirelessly. That day is sorely needed.

Shaun Nichols: As someone who uses a notebook as my primary work PC, I'm a huge fan of wireless peripheral devices. Even when working at a desk, cables can clutter things up and be a nuisance. When covering a convention or having to work in a crowded press room, however, they can be a major problem and even a safety hazard.

The emergence of Bluetooth has, thus far, been a bit of a disappointment in that sense. Though many vendors have been using it for wireless mice, keyboards and printers, there are still too many peripherals that are bound by the cable.

With new devices comes new threats, however. It used to be that you could protect your computer from outside attack by simply not attaching it to a modem or network. With Wi-Fi, however, any system connected to a wireless network is subject to attack. While Bluetooth isn’t nearly as insecure, it still raises a bit of a concern.

4. Handheld GPS

Shaun Nichols: Much like the portable media player, the handheld GPS system is a technology being killed by the smartphone.

As the smartphone becomes more powerful and new features are added, we're going to see more and more technologies being pushed out of the market. Fortunately for many of the vendors, the same companies that build many of those GPS handsets also make smartphones.

For the other vendors, there's still the auto market. One place where dedicated GPS hardware still thrives is in cars. Automakers are increasingly embedding GPS systems in their cars, and older models are being outfitted with the dashboard-mounted models.

Anyone who has ever been lost can understand why. GPS systems are one of the most useful and convenient technologies to emerge in the last decade.

Iain Thomson: For about a decade one of the hallmarks of a true geek is that they had a handheld GPS device. A certain journalist on ZDNet even used to give the location of his annual summer picnic via GPS coordinates, so that the geeks could find it while everyone else chased around Hampstead Heath trying to find the party.

But GPS is now a mature market and, like many technologies, is being subsumed into other devices. What got GPS so high on the list was the news that Google is to add GPS functions to Android 2.0. That's going to basically kill the handheld market stone dead and the smart money is already moving out of firms like TomTom and Garmin, which have massive investments in the market.

And I'd say you're wrong on the car front Shaun. Given the choice of being charged for a GPS add-on by a car company or just plugging in your phone to the cigarette lighter (now there's a dying technology if ever there was one) it's a simple choice.

3. Floppy discs

Iain Thomson: You might think that floppy discs are dead already, but computer manufacturers are still being asked to put them in new systems amazingly enough.

I nearly spat my drink out when a Dell representative told me that a few years ago over ten per cent of PCs were still shipping with floppy drives but apparently some companies like them. I suspect there are a few procurement staff who really haven’t moved out of the 1990s. Either that or canny salespeople are better at selling useless add-ons than we thought.

Back when Shaun was just a glint in the milkman’s eye whole desktop systems had floppy discs as the sole method of storage. Even the most ‘advanced’ 3.5 inch floppies can only hold 1.44MB – a laughably small amount by today’s standards.

There is however one small problem. I suspect there are are millions upon millions of floppies sitting in boxes of junk around the world and the amount of landfill needed to handle them all is going to be huge.

Shaun Nichols: As a Mac user, I've presumed that the floppy disc disappeared from the planet in the late 1990s shortly after the first iMac was shipped.

Joking aside, the floppy disk did hold on a lot longer than some PC vendors may have wished. Not long ago I was a college student working at an on-campus convenience store to make ends meet. Next to the cash register we kept a small rack with floppy disks. It's amazing how many nights we had where a frazzled student would run into the store and gratefully reach for one. Turns out that when you've spent the last five hours in the computer lab frantically typing up a term paper and you desperately need to save and transfer the document, the lowly floppy disc becomes the most important thing in the world.

Granted, USB thumb drives have gotten a lot cheaper since I graduated, but I like to think that in that little snack shop that small rack of floppy discs is still there, waiting to save someone's semester.

2. Compact Disc

Shaun Nichols: Really, the CD got a bit of a bum deal. The record album was the standard for several decades, the cassette tape had a good two decades. The CD had maybe ten or fifteen good years, only a bit better than the eight track.

The undoing of the compact disk was twofold. First, there was the emergence of the DVD, which took over much of the data storage and distribution market due to its increased capacity.

Then there was the emergence of the online music market. Just as the CD was settling in as the dominant medium for delivering music, the online services, both legitimate and otherwise, started popping up. When broadband costs dropped and high-bandwidth connections became commonplace, the writing was on the wall for the humble CD format.

Iain Thomson: I'm not a huge fan of the CD format for a number of reasons and will be happy to see it go.

When CDs came out they were billed as high quality recording media that would last for ever. Instead what we got was an expensive replacement for records that produced lower quality sound turned out to have a depressingly short shelf life.

This latter part of the equation is most worrying from an IT standpoint. If you have information backed up onto CDs then you might want to put it on something more permanent. The format was described by one manufacturer as virtually indestructible on launch but repeated test have shown a sharp drop off in readability after a few short years. From my personal experience around 20 per cent of CDs I burnt at the turn of the century no longer work.

While the capacity of the DVD is ultimately what has done for the CD in data storage terms that format suffers from similar problem and if you are storing mission critical data you will need one, or preferably two, sets of backups.

1. Desktop PC

Iain Thomson: The desktop PC is a dying breed for most people, but it has served us well.

They are still hanging on in the corporate sphere because they are cheap and get the job done. But laptops are not outselling them and I suspect our children will look on them in the same wonder as we do today at early vacuum cleaners the size of a truck.

Some PCs are still in demand. Really high end gamers really like them because they can get the ultra-fast graphics systems that shave seconds off reaction time, and can handle the massive cooling systems needed to get that kind of performance without setting fire to their bedrooms.

Some corporate verticals also like them, as they are solid and can be physically fastened down to protect the data they contain. I know more than a few parents who like them too, so that the family computer can be installed in the living room where everyone can see what it being viewed.

The fact is that the laptops used to suffer a performance penalty over desktops but this is no longer the case. You can now do pretty much anything you want with a high end laptop, with the added bonus that you can take your computer with you.

Shaun Nichols: A part of me misses the day when a geek was judged by the size of his (or her) PC tower. It used to be that having a huge enclosure on top of your desk was something to brag about. Back then notebooks were reserved for road warriors and those who didn't need much more than a word processor and a spreadsheet app.

Since then, however, the notebook has gone from being an underpowered, overpriced machine to the dominant form of personal computer. Everyone from home users to students to professionals now prefers the notebook over the desktop. As battery life improves and components get smaller, I suspect that this will only continue.

At least two groups, however, will likely keep the desktop market alive for quite some time.

Gamers for one still scoff at notebooks for the most part. First off, the screens are too small to deliver the size and resolution to get the most out of the latest titles. There's also the limits of the small enclosure. Many high-end gaming and hobbyist systems require very large fan or liquid cooling systems that would not come close to fitting in a laptop.

Similarly, graphics professionals aren't likely to switch over to notebooks any time soon. They also love the large, accurate monitors that are all but impossible to integrate into a notebook design.

Google unveils commercial site search

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco — 2009-11-07T02:12:00.000Z

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco, V3.co.uk, Saturday 7 November 2009 at 02:12:00

Commerce service aims for online retailers

Google has unveiled a new service designed to improve search efforts for retail sites.

The company said that the new Commerce Search tool would allow online retailers to offer better search functions for their sites and make it easier for users to find items.

The new tool allows vendors to offer a search service based on the Google search engine within their sites, providing users with more accurate results when looking up items. The company hopes that the tool will be adopted in time to meet the holiday shopping rush.

"To date the technology powering retail website stores has not kept pace with innovation in search," said Google enterprise president Dave Girouard.

"Google Commerce Search will help customers find accurate results extremely fast, to the benefit of retailers and customers alike."

Google said that the service has been fine-tuned for commercial search and customer queries. The Commerce Search tool will carry built-in features such as spell-checking and suggestions to help customers find items.

Additionally, the service is designed to integrate with Google's other enterprise tools, such as the Google Analytics service and the Google Product Search inventory tool.

Pricing for the tool starts at $50,000 will be based on the number of items on the user's retail site.

Europe's browser wars heat up again

Rosalie Marshall — 2009-11-06T17:48:00.000Z

Rosalie Marshall, V3.co.uk, Friday 6 November 2009 at 17:48:00

Mozilla and Opera demand changes to Microsoft's proposed ballot system

Complaints about Microsoft's anti-competitive browser bundling are still in full swing, even though the company said in July that it will no longer shield Internet Explorer (IE) from competition in Europe by bundling it with Windows.

Three competing browser developers have been working with the European Union's Competition Commission on the investigation into Microsoft's browser practices, and have now said that Microsoft's proposal to offer a ballot system for Windows users to select their default browser from a list is not good enough.

One of the problems is that Microsoft will offer the browser ballot from within IE, which Opera Software argues makes the other browsers look less important.

"The proposal on the table could work, but it needs some changes," said Håkon Wium Lie, Opera Software chief technology officer.

"We think it's important that the ballot screen is impartial. Therefore, we ask that the ballot screen is not run inside an IE window that has IE logos on it. In an election, you wouldn't accept that one candidate has his logo in the corner of the ballot, and it shouldn't be accepted in the ballot screen either.

"Likewise, we don't think voters should be warned against their candidate of choice when they vote. We are therefore asking that warning messages should not be shown to users who request non-IE browsers."

Opera Software initiated the European Commission's (EC's) investigation into Microsoft's practices almost two years ago. Google and Mozilla joined the investigation in February.

Mozilla has put forward additional changes that it believes should be made to Microsoft's current proposals.

"A few specific changes would bring the ballot much closer to the EC's stated goals of eliminating bias," said a Mozilla spokesman.

"In particular, we believe that rotating browser placement so that no browser has an advantaged or disadvantaged position, and reducing the many references to IE on the ballot page, are each important improvements."

Google declined to comment on whether it wanted further changes to Microsoft's proposals, although reports suggest that the search giant agrees with the points raised by Opera Software.

The Microsoft proposals gained EC approval early last month, which was thought at the time to signal that the investigation was drawing to a close. However, now that Mozilla and Opera Software have raised more complaints, the battle could continue.

Under the agreement, all Windows PCs sold in the European Economic Area for the next five years will contain the proposed ballot screens.

EBay settles court case with Skype founders

David Neal — 2009-11-06T16:20:00.000Z

David Neal, V3.co.uk, Friday 6 November 2009 at 16:20:00

Zennström and Friis to take a 14 per cent stake

As expected, Skype has settled its court action with Joltid, the company set up by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.

Skype president Josh Silverman called the result "exciting", explaining in blog post that the firm now had control over the P2P software at the heart of the battle.

"I have some very exciting news to share with you today. In the past couple of days, we and eBay have reached a settlement with Joltid regarding our dispute with them," he said.

"This has extremely positive implications for us on three critical fronts. We will now have ownership of the software previously licensed from Joltid, so we'll be in control of our technology future.

"All litigation against eBay, Skype and the investor group ends, so we'll be free to concentrate all our efforts on building the world's greatest communications software."

Zennström and Friis will join Skype's board of directors, and have a 14 per cent share in the company in return for a "significant" cash investment.

EBay said that it is glad to continue focusing on its core business. "Skype will be well positioned to move forward under new owners with ownership and control over its core technology," said eBay president and chief executive John Donahoe.

"At the same time, eBay continues to retain a significant stake in Skype and will benefit from its continued growth. We look forward to closing the deal and focusing on growing our core ecommerce and payments businesses."

Local authorities should not outsource in bulk, says Deloitte

Tom Young — 2009-11-06T16:15:00.000Z

Tom Young, Computing, Friday 6 November 2009 at 16:15:00

Retaining in-house staff will allow for a more effective IT strategy

Local government authorities should outsource commoditised IT functions such as desktops, networks and datacentres while retaining control of technology strategy in-house, according to a new report from consultant Deloitte.

This will allow it to ensure that IT is being used in the most innovative way while keeping down costs – something that is difficult to do with a bulk outsourcing deal, the report says.

"For far too long, local government has tended to view IT as a black art that is better performed by external contractors," said Costi Perricos, author of the report.

"The result has been failed outsourcing contracts and the growth of disparate IT domains that lack centralised control and adequate governance."

Many bad IT projects are the result of poor communication and a lack of central strategy according to Deloitte, which has worked with a number of authorities on their IT strategies.

Maintaining in-house control of strategy will allow authorities to ensure the value of IT is being harnessed.

Authorities should establish a board that includes directors and suppliers to make IT-related decisions, according to the report.

This will allow IT staff to communicate costs in lay terms and make clear that transformational projects, though costly in the short term, may lead to huge savings in the longer term.

It will also allow authorities to focus on the business strategy that IT will support, rather than investing in technology for its own sake.

In addition, requirements from central government for all authorities to cut costs means that they must look carefully at reusing their existing IT systems for more functions, as well as being prepared to share systems with neighbouring authorities.

"Authorities are being asked to share resources and the good news for authorities embarking on such journeys is that the potential for savings is real," says the report.

It estimates that sharing resources in a co-ordinated fashion could shave as much as 15 per cent off costs in the long term.

Environment Agency calls for tougher fines for polluting firms

BusinessGreen.com staff — 2009-11-06T16:02:00.000Z

BusinessGreen.com staff, BusinessGreen, Friday 6 November 2009 at 16:02:00

Serious pollution incidents on the slide, but watchdog insists tougher penalties are needed to continue downward trend

The Environment Agency's crackdown against environmental crimes is delivering dividends, but the watchdog would still like to see the courts hand out tougher fines for polluters.

That is the message from the organisation's latest environmental crime statistics, which revealed that the number of cases of serious pollution in England and Wales fell 13 per cent in 2008 to 723 cases.

The Agency said its approach of targeting those businesses that operate in high-risk areas or have a poor environmental track record had contributed to the reduction in serious pollution incidents. But it argued that increased fines and harsher penalties were required from the courts to continue the recent downward trend.

According to the figures, the Environment Agency brought 722 cases against companies and individuals for environmental offences last year, resulting in fines and costs totalling £5.3m.

The average fine imposed against companies in breach of environmental regulations also rose from £8,229 in 2007 to £10,080 last year. But the watchdog argued that fines are still too modest to act as a serious deterrent for some firms.

"Major pollution incidents continue to reduce, thanks to more effective environmental regulation by the Environment Agency and efforts made by businesses to manage their activities better," said Environment Agency chief executive Dr Paul Leinster. "[But] we want to see higher fines for pollution incidents to provide a greater deterrent. There are still an average of two serious pollution incidents a day and this is too many."

The new figures revealed that the waste management industry is still the worst environmental offender, accounting for a third of all serious pollution incidents last year. Farms and water companies also performed poorly, proving responsible for a quarter and a sixth of incidents respectively.

T-Mobile and Orange confirm merger

David Neal — 2009-11-06T15:05:00.000Z

David Neal, V3.co.uk, Friday 6 November 2009 at 15:05:00

Joint venture will have 37 per cent of the UK mobile market

T-Mobile and Orange have finally signed the agreement which will turn them into a 50:50 joint company, dominating the UK mobile market with a share of 37 per cent.

Parent companies Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom said today that they will combine their UK operations, after months of wrangling.

"This joint venture is based on the full commitment of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom to a long-term partnership," said Timotheus Hoettges, chief financial officer at Deutsche Telekom.

"The negotiations were conducted in a fair way on both sides, and I am certain that this spirit of professionalism and partnership will shape the future of our joint venture. It will set new standards as the number one in the UK mobile market."

Gervais Pellissier, deputy chief executive at France Telecom in charge of group finance and information systems, added: "This is an important step towards our objective of establishing an excellent platform to deliver operational synergies, and offer innovative and high-quality services to our customers."

Completion of the deal is dependent on regulatory approval, but is expected to be completed in the first half of next year.

UK regulators have said that they may stop the deal, after fears that the combined entity will have an unfair advantage in the UK marketplace.

BusinessGreen.com Most Read - November 6

BusinessGreen.com Staff — 2009-11-06T14:52:00.000Z

BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen, Friday 6 November 2009 at 14:52:00

From Chinese-funded Texan wind farms to dreams of a North Sea CCS hub, we run down the top stories from the past seven days

China to supply turbines and funding for $1.5bn Texas wind farm

600MW utility-scale wind farm to be among the largest in the US

Europe's Saharan solar dream edges closer to reality

Desertec group of companies create new joint venture to manage development of world's most ambitious renewable energy project

JP Morgan bolsters carbon offset clout with EcoSecurities acquisition

Long-running acquisition saga approaches its end as board accepts £129m JP Morgan offer

China drops "buy Chinese" policy for wind turbines

European and US manufacturers set to benefit from relaxation of controversial policy

Campaigners warn carbon markets will trigger next sub-prime crisis

Carbon markets have been hijacked by speculators and should be replaced with direct taxation, says Friends of the Earth

Republicans threaten to delay US climate bill as long as possible

Seven members of Environment and Public Works Committee say they will not show up to this week's key climate bill meetings

Overturn of CO2 transportation ban promises North Sea CCS boost

But ratification process could take years, according to International Maritime Organisation

Tackling climate change one dirty nappy at a time

The UK's first ever nappy recycling facility will power itself from the waste it processes

Review: Vauxhall Corsa EcoFlex whets appetite for 2010 upgrades

A decent little car offering cost-conscious, eco-aware motoring – but don't buy till next year

UK biomass plans heat up with Peterborough Energy Park

The station will not only generate 350MW of energy, but "remanufacture" waste materials such as glass and metal

Law body set to clarify consumer rights

Dinah Greek — 2009-11-06T14:40:00.000Z

Dinah Greek, Computeractive, Friday 6 November 2009 at 14:40:00

Legal reform body backs fight to keep strong UK consumer rights

The Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission have published recommendations that would simplify, strengthen and clarify laws governing consumer rights for faulty goods.

The proposals from the English, Welsh and Scottish statutory law reform bodies also insist that UK consumers retain some fundamental rights under threat from the proposed European Consumer Rights directive.

Currently UK consumers have some of the strongest protection in Europe under laws such as the Sale of Goods Act, the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers, and the Distance Selling Regulations.

However, the complexity of UK laws, coupled with some areas of legislation being unclear - such as how long is a ‘reasonable time’ in which to reject faulty goods - has led to confusion.

The proposed European directive would also weaken UK consumer law by removing the right to reject faulty goods within a reasonable time, and for goods to be free of minor defects such as imperfections in appearance, finish or small malfunctions.

The UK law commissions have said these rights should be retained. Their proposals also pin down what the law considers a ‘reasonable time’ to 30 days. Although it said there must be flexibility for some goods.

David Hertzell, the Commissioner leading the project for the Law Commission of England and Wales, said: “We believe that the right to reject should be retained in the UK as a short-term remedy of first instance. It is a simple, easy-to-use remedy which inspires consumer confidence.”

Other recommendations include allowing consumers to ask for a refund or price reduction after one failed repair or one failed replacement. The proposals now go forward as part of the debate on the proposed EC directive.

Panasonic tables Sanyo offer to create clean tech powerhouse

James Murray — 2009-11-06T14:36:00.000Z

James Murray, BusinessGreen, Friday 6 November 2009 at 14:36:00

Electronics giant aims to bolster solar and battery business with $4.5bn takeover bid

Panasonic's year-long courtship of rival Sanyo edged towards consummation this week when the electronics giant tabled a $4.5bn (£2.7bn) takeover bid in a move intended to create a new clean tech powerhouse.

Panasonic said the Y131 (88p) per share offer would stay open until 7 December, but despite the bid being nearly half Sanyo's current share price, prospects for a deal look good with the company's three major shareholders – Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking – all confirming they would sell their stakes at the offered price.

Sanyo's executive vice president, Mitsuru Honma, also told Reuters that he regarded the offer as a reasonable price.

Panasonic is expected to end up with a majority stake of 70 per cent in its former rival, with smaller shareholders retaining a 30 per cent stake.

The deal, which is expected to receive regulatory approval from anti-competition bodies in the coming months, is likely to reshape a large number of clean tech markets.

Sanyo is the world's largest provider of rechargeable batteries for laptops and gadgets, and has also built a sizable presence in the electric vehicle market, providing batteries to a number of auto giants including Honda, Ford and Peugeot Citroen.

Meanwhile, Panasonic is developing battery technologies for hybrids and electric cars with Toyota and regards the deal as an opportunity to dominate the fast-expanding market.

Both companies also have a presence in the renewable energy sector through their work on solar cells and fuel cells and Panasonic is keen to bolster its position as a provider of renewable energy infrastructure through the development of both large-scale energy storage systems and low-carbon generation technologies.

Honma told Reuters that the company was poised to invest a "humongous amount " of money in ramping up production capacity across its battery and solar cell business.

He said the company was on track to reach 600MW of solar capacity by March 2011 and it expected solar panel prices to fall by up to a third next year as the industry continues to cut manufacturing costs.

He also revealed that having this week signed a deal to provide Peugeot with batteries for its line of hybrids, the company was in talks with several other car firms and was aiming to become the world's largest supplier of batteries to the electric vehicle market.

Capgemini revenue declines

Angelica Mari — 2009-11-06T14:24:00.000Z

Angelica Mari, Computing, Friday 6 November 2009 at 14:24:00

Third-quarter results hit by reduced IT spending

A fall in business technology budgets has caused revenue to plummet at IT consultancy and services firm Capgemini.

The French company reported a 7.3 per cent revenue reduction over the third quarter to €1.95bn (£1.75bn) across all its business segments.

Citing a "sharp reduction in corporate IT spending", the company said fourth-quarter revenue is expected to decline by a similar amount to that of the third quarter.

Due to an "extremely tight" rein on costs, the company expects its full-year operating margin to increase seven per cent year on year.

“Although there are signs that activity is stabilising and even picking up in some market segments, we do not expect to see benefits immediately,” the company said in a statement.

The firm said it will launch five service offerings focused on high-growth markets between now and March 2010 to "leverage the upturn".