BT hopes Canvas will diffuse iPlayer row

BT is looking to Project Canvas as a way to diffuse a dispute with the BBC over online video usage.

The broadcaster recently noted that BT was throttling video streaming speeds on its lowest broadband package, and accused the telco of not making this clear enough in their sales collateral.

In response, a BT spokesman told the Independent that the telecoms giant "can't give these companies a free ride any more".

"Bandwidth costs money and files like movies and music take up a lot of that. The situation at the moment is that the internet service provider picks up the tab," he added.

The BBC currently pays content delivery networks to place its videos on the internet, which are then delivered to users by ISPs.

It has been suggested that BT is searching for ways to monetise this process by either establishing its own CDN or charging content providers in some way.

As a joint venture between BT, the BBC and ITV, Project Canvas is an initiative working towards developing a new agreed platform for online video delivery.

Speaking to Digital Spy today, BT spokesman Mike Jarvis pointed out that the project is a "good demonstration of how everybody can get around the table and agree a way forward whereby costs are shared and everybody achieves their business objectives".

He added: "So really it is a very good model of what can happen if everybody is around the table to have a serious commercial discussion about the way forward.

"Obviously we are partnered with the BBC and ITV in that project. So that is very much what we would see as a good model of cooperation."

Jarvis also said negotiations are "still ongoing" with content providers, including the BBC, and claimed that this row is "just paper stuff".

By Andrew Laughlin

Microsoft to ship Windows 7 without Internet Explorer

It means that computer users will have to download and install a web browser of their choice when they upgrade their computer to Windows 7, which goes on sale on Oct 22.

Microsoft said it made it’s decision following an anti-trust investigation by the European Union. That on-going legal case is seeking to establish whether Microsoft’s practice of pre-installing Internet Explorer on its software is anti-competitive to other browser makers, such as Mozilla, makers of Firefox, Opera, Google, which makes Chrome, and Apple, which makes Safari.

The EU’s preliminary findings ruled that Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system violates European competition laws.

“We’re committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product,” said Dave Heiner, deputy general counsel for Microsoft.

“Given the pending legal proceeding, we’ve decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users.

“This means that computer manufacturers and users will be free to install Internet Explorer on Windows 7, or not, as they prefer. Of course, they will also be free, as they are today, to install other web browsers.”

However, EU regulators have accused Microsoft of offering less choice, not more, as a result of this move. The Commission said it would have preferred to see computers supplied with a choice of browsers, “not that Windows should be supplied with no browser at all”.

It said it would also have to consider whether “this initial step of technical separation of Internet Explorer from Windows could be negated by other actions by Microsoft”.

Opera, one of Microsoft’s competitors in the browser market, said the US company had not gone far enough.

“I don’t think what Microsoft announced is going to restore competition,” said Hakon Wium, Opera’s chief technology officer. “I don’t think its going to be enough, I don’t think it will get them off the hook.” He joined calls for Microsoft to offer a variety of browsers with each new Windows machine, rather than no browsers at all.

Last year, Microsoft was fined €899m (£765m) by the European Commission for anti-competitive behaviour regarding the way it bundled its Windows Media Player with copies of Windows.

By Claudine Beaumont

EBay to spin off Skype next year

Auction site eBay has announced plans to spin off Skype, floating the VoIP service as a standalone business from early next year.

The announcement follows news that Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, who sold the system to eBay for $2.6bn (£1.74bn) in 2005, are trying to raise capital to buy it back.

"Skype is a great standalone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum," said John Donahoe, president and chief executive of eBay.

Donahoe added that Skype has very little in common with eBay's core businesses, and would be better off on its own two feet.

"This will give Skype the focus and resources to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications," he said. "In addition, separating Skype will allow eBay to focus entirely on our two core growth engines- e-commerce and online payments - and deliver long-term value to our stockholders."

Specific timing of the initial public offering (IPO) will be based on market conditions, but the move could make it easier for Zennström and Friis to regain a controlling interest in the company or buy it out altogether.

When Donahoe took the top spot at eBay in April 2008 he outlined plans to spend a year evaluating Skype's suitability within the rest of the company's portfolio, at the same time appointing a new management team led by Josh Silverman.

Skype has being going from strength to strength, meanwhile, generating revenues of $551m (£369m) in 2008, up 44 per cent from 2007. The service had 405 million registered users by the end of 2008, up 47 per cent from 2007, and user metrics improved significantly throughout the year. EBay predicts that this trend will continue, and that revenues will top $1bn (£670m) in 2011.

"Under the leadership of Silverman and his management team, Skype has become a stronger business in the past year, and I expect it will be even stronger a year from now," added Donahoe.

"Skype has accelerating global user growth and strong fundamentals, diversified revenue streams and is competitively positioned in a large market. We expect Josh and his team to continue delivering results as we prepare Skype for an IPO."

Skype is targeting all segments of the market, focusing on corporates with the recent launch of its Skype for SIP beta programme, and on consumers with the introduction of Skype on the iPhone, which saw more than one million downloads within 36 hours.

By Ian Williams

Sony shows off its Vaio W-Series netbook

Sony has announced its first true netbook, the Vaio W-Series.

The manufacturer does not call it a netbook, opting instead for "mini notebook". In December last year, Sony told ZDNet UK it would avoid netbooks in their current form factor as they are "in-between" products — neither pocketable nor full-sized enough to replace a standard notebook.

Taken from ZDNet.co.uk

ActiveX Vulnerability Prompts Microsoft To Issue Security Warning

Microsoft Corp. is alerting its users to update their systems following reports of attacks exploiting a critical vulnerability in its Internet Explorer’s video ActiveX component emerged.

In a security advisory, the software giant asserted that the vulnerability could allow hackers to seize control over victims’ computer, without notifying them about it, thereby inflicting all sorts of troubles for them.

Microsoft is suggesting that the users of Windows Server 2003 as well as Windows XP should disable the vulnerable video ActiveX component by using a workaround given on its website.

Although the company claimed that the vulnerability wouldn’t affect the uses of Windows 2008 and Windows Vista, but it is still recommending users to disable the ActiveX component “as a defence-in-depth measure”.

The workaround published on the company’s website could either be applied manually by carrying out registry edit, or automatically through a pre-prepared fix. The company further asserted that disabling ActiveX control in Internet Explorer wouldn’t affect the compatibility of the application.

Christopher Budd, the security program manager for Microsoft, wrote on MSRC blog; “We have an investigation into this issue under way as part of our Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP) and are working to develop a security update to address the issue.”

By Desire Athow

Orange to launch LG Watch Phone in August

The long-awaited LG Watch Phone will hit the UK in August, courtesy of mobile operator Orange.

The LG GD910 was originally announced in December last year, and showcased at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The tiny device features a 1.43in touch-screen display, and comes with a Bluetooth headset to avoid having to rely on the inbuilt speaker.

LG has included voice dialling to avoid having to type out numbers or contacts on the small screen.

Orange said that the Watch Phone will be available for a limited period, at an "exclusive" price point on a pay-as-you-go tariff, but has not confirmed what that price will be. Rumours surfaced in February that the device would cost as much as £1,000.

"The Watch Phone is the must-have gadget of 2009. It's handcrafted, exclusively limited, and will turn heads on the high street," said Tom Alexander, chief executive at Orange UK.

The LG device is just the first of a range of innovative multimedia phones from Orange, according to Alexander, and the company is set to unveil at least three more high-end devices before the end of the year.

"We have secured some of the most original and innovative devices available. The Watch Phone is the first of these, all focused on bringing a 21st century experience to our 21st century customers," he said.

Orange has not yet specified the exact date of the Watch Phone launch, nor whether the device will be available on contract.

By Ian Williams

Mobile manufacturers agree to universal charge

The days of drawers full of chargers for mobile phones you no longer use could soon be over after manufacturers agreed to use a universal model.

Ten companies including Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have signed up to offer the charger, which will be based on a Micro-USB connector. Currently, when consumers buy a mobile phone they are provided with a new charger even if the old one still works.

The European commission had asked companies to work on harmonising chargers in the EU in a bid to cut down on waste. It said unused chargers amounted to thousands of tonnes of electronic waste a year and was threatening legislation unless a voluntary deal was reached.

The EU industry commissioner, Günter Verheugen, said he was pleased with the agreement, which would make life much simpler for consumers.

"They will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger. This also means considerably less electronic waste because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones," he said.

Talks between the phone firms and commission officials produced a "Memorandum of Understanding" indicating that the first generation of "inter-chargeable" mobile phones will reach the EU market from 2010.

The agreement says that in future harmonised chargers will improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption. They should also give mobile users an "easier life", cutting costs by removing the likelihood of needing a new charger to go with a new mobile phone, and by foregoing the need to hunt all over the house for the correct charger.

Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour said common sense had prevailed. "This agreement will also encourage more chargers to be recycled, preventing electronic waste. Mobile phone companies should consider whether a new charger is now needed with every handset if there is a possibility that an old one can be recycled.

"It is particularly welcome that the commission was able to reach agreement with the industry without introducing new regulation."

The new charger will only work with data enabled phones but the commission said it expected most phones bought from 2010 will be compatible.

By Hilary Osborne

Ofcom sets out challenge of broadband Britain

Ofcom boss Ed Richards last night set out the full scale of the challenge of realising the government's ambition of getting broadband to everyone in the UK by 2012, with over 1.5m homes currently unable to receive the download speed promised by communications minister Lord Carter in his Digital Britain plan.

Speaking on "The Future of Telecoms", a public lecture at the London School of Economics, Richards unveiled research to be published by the regulator later this week. Over 40% of the UK's estimated 25m households do not have broadband and, of those, Richards said that about 55% "have decided they do not want it at all, even though they can afford it – we call these the 'self excluded'".

He added that about 30% "are restrained by financial resources but would like to be online – we call these the 'financially excluded'," while "15% don't want it and don't have the resources anyway – we call these the 'dual excluded'."

But he indicated that 1% of UK households do want broadband but cannot get it where they live – the so-called "geographically excluded".

However, the 1% figure is only for broadband at a minimum speed of 0.5Mb per second. Carter, in his interim Digital Britain report published in January, said that by 2012 he wanted universal broadband access at speeds of 2Mb per second and above. At those speeds, Richards said, "the 1% grows substantially to an estimated 15% who simply can't access a service of this speed at present". That is equivalent to roughly 1.5m homes.

He said it was "time to ensure that anyone who wants a decent basic broadband service can get one".

Carter has made it plain that he believes that "3G" data services on UK mobile phone networks have a major role to play in plugging the gaps in broadband coverage, while Richards added that in some cases "simple and cheap improvements to in-house wiring can deliver the desired speed improvements".

By Richard Wray

O2 signs Palm Pre exclusive deal

Mobile operator O2 has won an exclusive deal to sell the Palm Pre in the UK.

O2 said the phone would be available in the UK in time for the winter holidays. No details have been given of how much it will cost when it goes on sale.

The Palm Pre smartphone is seen as a rival to Apple's iPhone because of its web-centred operating system and innovative interface.

In the UK, O2 has had an exclusive deal to sell Apple's iPhone handset since November 2007.

Taken from BBC.co.uk/news