Technology
FeedSorry consoles, you're doomed
Guy Clapperton
Mar 13th 2010
Filed under: Markets, Technology
The age of the computer game console is over, say new reports about an on-demand games service called OnLive, which will go live properly in June. It'll be different to other online gaming systems because it'll happen through the computer's browser, so there are no downloads and no need to buy extra hardware.OK. And as long as it'll play DVDs and my existing games and transfer itself from my computer to my living room (I work at the computer and relax in the living room, OK?) I'll happily bin the consoles. What? It won't? Oh dear.
Nokia and Apple look at dates
Guy Clapperton
Mar 13th 2010
Filed under: Technology
Apple and Nokia have started looking at dates for their legal battle – and the bad news is that it won't happen until mid-2012. On the surface this could be interpreted as leading to a long uncertainty for both companies.In practice it's unlikely to amount to the proverbial hill of beans. What, you thought technology and communications companies weren't always suing the backsides off each other?
Microsoft appeal may cost dear
Guy Clapperton
Mar 13th 2010
Filed under: Technology
Microsoft has lost another appeal in its long-running legal tussle with software company i4i. Essentially the decision that it should pay £160m to i4i and stop using XML in its software still stands.The history is long and tangled and it's important to stress that Microsoft has long since taken the offending code out of software it's selling at the moment. But it might prompt people to consider some of the alternatives.
Facebook considers suing Mail
Guy Clapperton
Mar 12th 2010
Filed under: Technology
Now this is naughty. Facebook is considering suing the Daily Mail because of a story that appeared on Wednesday. The paper had an article by a guy called Mark Williams-Thomas, an ex-policeman. He posed as a teenage girl on a social network and within minutes had someone asking him to perform sexual acts.
Tories turn on the white heat
Michael Cross
Mar 12th 2010
Filed under: News , Technology
Super-high speed broadband and a new right to demand access to government data are headline items in the bid to brand the Conservative Party as the friend of high-tech Britain in the general election. The Conservative Technology Manifesto, which promises to create 600,000 jobs, recalls the 1963 "white heat" speech by Harold Wilson, in which he presented Labour as the party of modernity.
BT 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.
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.
NY and the City clash: London falling
Economy doing worse than suspected?
