Technology
FeedBT says no to Net cut-offs
Guy Clapperton
Mar 10th 2010
Filed under: Technology, Creative industries
British Telecom chief exexutive Ian Livingstone has joined others in writing to the Financial Times in protest at proposals to cut people off the Internet if they infringe copyright.They should be fined instead, says the signatories. In this way you get a fund with which you can pay some owed copyrights rather than disenfranchised citizens.
Playstation 3 - tortoise to the Wii?
Guy Clapperton
Mar 10th 2010
Filed under: Technology
It's pretty much received wisdom in the games industry that the Wii is the best selling games console, with Playstation 3 an embarrassing trailer for Sony. This may change: analysts from US firm Strategic Analytics are saying it's going to have more staying power.They're missing a load of points in the Wii's favour, and assuming that there'll be no PS4 for a while, but their projections are impressive. PS3 sales will reach 127 million against a total of 103 million for Wii, they're saying, because it's going to be around a lot longer.
How Floyd found dark side of the net
Helen Fowler
Mar 10th 2010
Filed under: News , Technology, Retail
They were at the forefront of musical innovation for decades. The band that pioneered psychedelic music in the 1960s. They introduced us to rock music in the 1970s. They redefined album cover art.But the era of on-line music is presenting challenges for Pink Floyd, as for many in the industry. The band has taken EMI, its record label since 1967, to court in a dispute over the calculation of royalties for sales over the internet.
A decade on from dotcom mayhem
David Burrows
Mar 10th 2010
Filed under: Investing, Markets, Technology
Go back 10 years from this very day and the stock market was going into freefall as technology stocks finally came back to earth with a resounding bump.
With the benefit of hindsight it is clear now that some fledgling tech companies were fantastic businesses and have proved this since but back then it was harder to distinguish the wheat from the chaff.
The likes of Google and Amazon for instance have been arguably as successful as any company in any sector in terms of sustained growth over recent years.
Some will argue that many tech stocks are still way below valuation levels seen during the 2000 boom – given that these are the survivors does this mean that tech in some way has failed to deliver to investors?
Weak security questions put data at risk
Guy Clapperton
Mar 9th 2010
Filed under: Banking , Technology
Every now and then in this column I mention how people pick insecure passwords for websites and work computers. There's now another wrinkle – insecure questions.When I log onto one of my accounts I get asked a few things. Name of first school, mother's maiden name...now, how many people would actually know those things about me? My mum's a nice woman, she has loads of friends, it could be hundreds.
Gadgets - more important than people!
Guy Clapperton
Mar 9th 2010
Filed under: Technology
How important are your gadgets to you? New research from the Geek Squad suggests that they might be getting more vital than is healthy to a lot of people, as seven out of 10 people would rather fix a gadget than see to a health problem or a relationship issue.Exclude relationship problems and it seems eight out of 10 people in the UK would rather go and do some DIY or work on a gadget somehow than go and see a doctor about something.
Vinyl sales up, CDs down
Guy Clapperton
Mar 9th 2010
Filed under: Technology, Creative industries
Somewhere among all the talk about CD sales shrinking (true) and downloads increasing (also true) and the hotly debated illegal download conundrum (controversial) we've missed a trick.Vinyl record sales are growing. According to the Official UK Charts Company they grew 5% last year with American sales growing even more, by a million. In an age when 30% of last year's £2.6bn music industry was due to downloads this is remarkable.
Your right to connect electronically
Guy Clapperton
Mar 8th 2010
Filed under: Technology
Do you think Internet access should be a fundamental human right? Half the world would agree with you strongly if you said "yes", with a further 29% agreeing somewhat.The nay-sayers are in the minority, then, with less than 10% of people feeling strongly that it shouldn't be counted as such. Bodies as widely recognised as the United Nations are pushing for universal access.
Small biz banks raided
Guy Clapperton
Mar 8th 2010
Filed under: Small Business, Banking , Technology
There's a new batch of computer malware out there and it's attacking banks of small businesses. It's exploiting the trend for social networking and underlines the need to keep all security software absolutely up to date.The US has reported more than $120m worth of losses in the third quarter of last year, according to a Financial Times report. ID fraud overall is costing the country $700m per quarter.
Is there Internet addiction?
Guy Clapperton
Mar 8th 2010
Filed under: Technology
An article in the Times today asks the question, is Internet addiction like any other addiction and should it be treated as such?Cards on the table – I'm not a doctor, never have been and never will be by now. But my answer is "no" – but some of the addictive behaviour could indicate an underlying problem.
YouTube threatened in UK
Guy Clapperton
Mar 5th 2010
Filed under: Technology, Creative industries
Amendments to the Digital Economy Bill currently working its way through Parliament might put services like YouTube under threat for its users' copyright breaches.The issue is that loads of people – no, loads – are putting copyright material they don't own onto the service and the copyright owners have had enough. The Government might end up taking the service down completely if it doesn't remove the offending material.
Business continuity costs revealed
Guy Clapperton
Mar 5th 2010
Filed under: Small Business, Technology
Small business owners whose staff stayed off during the snow earlier this year lost approx. £13,800 as a result, says new research from IT consultancy Ramsac.The silly thing is that most of it could have been avoided through good business planning.
Facebook not cashing in - yet
Guy Clapperton
Mar 4th 2010
Filed under: News , Technology
You could imagine that if you'd started a major successful business you'd want to get some money out of it for yourself through an IPO. Well, not if you're Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who's told the Wall Street Journal he's not ready for that yet.And good luck to him. I've been covering businesses for over 20 years as a journalist and the transition to a listed company doesn't always run as smoothly as the founders think.
Europe considers free broadband
Guy Clapperton
Mar 4th 2010
Filed under: Technology
The European Union is considering making provision for everyone, no matter where they live, to have broadband. The move follows the Universal Service Directive of 2002, which says everyone should have access to telecommunications regardless of location or disability. The update to include the Internet is welcome in principle – but affordable?
US spills beans on cybercrime fight
Guy Clapperton
Mar 4th 2010
Filed under: Technology
The American authorities have declassified a series of measures they are taking against Cybercrime – but they're so vague as to be useless.The value of these crimes is hard to pin down. Last year reports indicated that by January 2009 individuals and businesses were losing $1 trillion per year; last month Symantec published a survey suggesting businesses were losing an average of $1.2 million a month.
Budget 2010: Housing market forecast
Coutts AIG bond row may end in court
Cadbury set fur thanks to gorilla
