Ofcom has fined TalkTalk and Tiscali £3m each for mis-billing customers after they had been previously warned to get their systems in order.
Between 1 January and 1 November 2010 the companies billed 62,000 customers for services they did not received. They were then warned to fix their systems by December but billed another 3,000 customer between December and March.
TalkTalk and Tiscali have already paid £2.5m in compensation to customers for refunds and good-will payments.
Ofcom showing biting - or just publicly showing they have some teeth?
2011/08/18
2011/08/16
Nuance buys Loquendo
Nuance who are buying up everyone involved in text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT) have just purchased Loquendo from Telecom Italia for $75m.
Many TTS companies have evolved out of telecoms companies as they have had to had speech engines in their telecoms switches to announce to users call issues etc and even services such as the speaking clock - which in some countries are completely automatic. Efficient natural sounding computer generated speech is difficult to achieve and Loquendo have been leaders in this area in Europe (anyone using a TomTom device will be familiar with a Loquendo speech engine).
This adds to Nuance's already large portfolio of TTS products.
Nuance were also famous for purchasing Spinvox (for around £64m) the Marlow based company that converted voicemails into text messages, but were the probe of a BBC journalists investigation after it was alleged that voicemails were sent outside the EU in violation of data protection law for manual conversion by agents. Nuance shut the consumer division of Spinvox down to utilise their carrier connections.
Many TTS companies have evolved out of telecoms companies as they have had to had speech engines in their telecoms switches to announce to users call issues etc and even services such as the speaking clock - which in some countries are completely automatic. Efficient natural sounding computer generated speech is difficult to achieve and Loquendo have been leaders in this area in Europe (anyone using a TomTom device will be familiar with a Loquendo speech engine).
This adds to Nuance's already large portfolio of TTS products.
Nuance were also famous for purchasing Spinvox (for around £64m) the Marlow based company that converted voicemails into text messages, but were the probe of a BBC journalists investigation after it was alleged that voicemails were sent outside the EU in violation of data protection law for manual conversion by agents. Nuance shut the consumer division of Spinvox down to utilise their carrier connections.
Google to buy Motorola Mobility
Google is buying Motorola Mobility their (ex) handset division for $12.5bn in cash, however Mobility also manufactures set-top boxes (and a lot of them) which fits in nicely with Google's TV plans.
The deal should complete in 2012 but there will be a lot of US and EU competition regulations to wade through, so the deal might actually a while to get final approval. Shareholders should be happy as Google paid $40 per share which was a 63% premium (on Friday's closing price).
Google will gain access to a large patent portfolio which may help them against the threat from other IP holders such as Microsoft and Apple, though it's unlikely to do much for the fight against Oracle and their Java legal issues.
Motorola are one of the major Android licensees and Google expect to keep them at arms length in terms of Android development. It's likely that Google will sell all or part of the division in the future - so a cash deal means it's easy to chop off the divisions without their being any legacy tie-ins to Google.
Google's Nexus One was manufactured by HTC, the Nexus S by Samsung, this deal probably means the next Nexus will be a Motorola unit.
The deal should complete in 2012 but there will be a lot of US and EU competition regulations to wade through, so the deal might actually a while to get final approval. Shareholders should be happy as Google paid $40 per share which was a 63% premium (on Friday's closing price).
Google will gain access to a large patent portfolio which may help them against the threat from other IP holders such as Microsoft and Apple, though it's unlikely to do much for the fight against Oracle and their Java legal issues.
Motorola are one of the major Android licensees and Google expect to keep them at arms length in terms of Android development. It's likely that Google will sell all or part of the division in the future - so a cash deal means it's easy to chop off the divisions without their being any legacy tie-ins to Google.
Google's Nexus One was manufactured by HTC, the Nexus S by Samsung, this deal probably means the next Nexus will be a Motorola unit.
2011/08/10
Duedil - find information on companies for free
Finding information about companies has always been complicated, basic information is available at Companies House, but to get anything useful you have to pay.
If you really want detailed info, then someone like Dun and Bradstreet offer very complex information, but it's really geared to accountants and CFOs.
There's now a new service that offers all Companies House information, plus more in an incredibly easy to use format. You need to sign-up, but it's free i.e. due-dilligence for the masses.
The service can be used to look for suppliers, competitors and clients (who you may want to do business with) and displays a wealth of information. What's also useful is that the information is all cross-linked, so say searching on a company and listing the directors, clicking on the director will show all the companies they are (and indeed have been) involved with.
Duedil also shows if there are any CCJs or other outstanding litigation and even ASA complaints as well as financials and a host of other information that is constantly being added.
If you need company info, Duedil should be your first port of call.
If you really want detailed info, then someone like Dun and Bradstreet offer very complex information, but it's really geared to accountants and CFOs.
There's now a new service that offers all Companies House information, plus more in an incredibly easy to use format. You need to sign-up, but it's free i.e. due-dilligence for the masses.
The service can be used to look for suppliers, competitors and clients (who you may want to do business with) and displays a wealth of information. What's also useful is that the information is all cross-linked, so say searching on a company and listing the directors, clicking on the director will show all the companies they are (and indeed have been) involved with.
Duedil also shows if there are any CCJs or other outstanding litigation and even ASA complaints as well as financials and a host of other information that is constantly being added.
If you need company info, Duedil should be your first port of call.
2011/08/04
Moshi Monsters invade New York
Though there are over 15m US Moshi Monster users, so far they've only been able to play on-line.
On 5th August 2011 that will change as Moshi Monsters launch their range toys including the 6 plush Moshi Monsters and 32 Moshling mini figures at Toys"R"Us in Times Square from noon through 3pm.
There will a range of 'special' appearances and activities including: -
The first 250 attendees will also receive a special copy of Moshi Monsters Magazine
On 5th August 2011 that will change as Moshi Monsters launch their range toys including the 6 plush Moshi Monsters and 32 Moshling mini figures at Toys"R"Us in Times Square from noon through 3pm.
There will a range of 'special' appearances and activities including: -
- Moshi Monsters characters, Poppet and Katsuma, appearing live in the fur!
- Moshi Monsters themed face painting.
- Autographs by Mr. Moshi himself (Michael Acton Smith, founder of Mind Candy and creator of Moshi Monsters).
- While supplies last, attendees will receive a complimentary Moshi Code giveaway, created exclusively for the event, of a super sparkly Liberty trophy, used to decorate a user's virtual room on MoshiMonsters.com.
The first 250 attendees will also receive a special copy of Moshi Monsters Magazine
2011/08/03
Ofcom publishes report on DEA site blocking compliance
Ofcom the super regulator that looks after radio, broadcasting, media and telecoms has published a report (PDF) about blocking access to sites that publish illegal (copyright infringing) material in-line with section 17 and 18 of the Digital Economy Act DEA).
The report is quite long and complex and goes into detail on the different ways that sites can be blocked i.e. IP address, DNS manipulation, uniform resource locator (URL) manipulation, simple packet inspection (SPI) and deep packet inspection (SPI). There are also potential hybrids of various of the above methods with varying degrees of cost and effectivenes.
There is an existing system for blocking access to illegal material (such as child pornography) with a list maintained by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), though it can be effective for specific URLs, it can break (such as the incident when and entry on Wikipedia was blocked and most of the traffic from the UK to Wikipedia came from 6 proxies run by the dominant ISPs).
Amusingly where references to getting round several of the schemes are mentioned in the report, they have been redacted.
The report does indicate that existing methods of reporting copyright abuse (under section 97A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988) are not going to be speeded-up by injunctions under section 17 or 18 of the DEA.
The report points out methods of encouraging site owners to co-operate in that if a blocking notice was put on the site, all of their site would be blocked, which might encourage the site to remove the offending content. There is also mention of co-operation of virtual private network (VPN) providers as pretty well all blocking can be undermined by utilising a VPN tunnel.
Ofcom are also keen to ensure the injunctions are not unduely punitive and there is accountability.
The report is quite long and complex and goes into detail on the different ways that sites can be blocked i.e. IP address, DNS manipulation, uniform resource locator (URL) manipulation, simple packet inspection (SPI) and deep packet inspection (SPI). There are also potential hybrids of various of the above methods with varying degrees of cost and effectivenes.
There is an existing system for blocking access to illegal material (such as child pornography) with a list maintained by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), though it can be effective for specific URLs, it can break (such as the incident when and entry on Wikipedia was blocked and most of the traffic from the UK to Wikipedia came from 6 proxies run by the dominant ISPs).
Amusingly where references to getting round several of the schemes are mentioned in the report, they have been redacted.
The report does indicate that existing methods of reporting copyright abuse (under section 97A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988) are not going to be speeded-up by injunctions under section 17 or 18 of the DEA.
The report points out methods of encouraging site owners to co-operate in that if a blocking notice was put on the site, all of their site would be blocked, which might encourage the site to remove the offending content. There is also mention of co-operation of virtual private network (VPN) providers as pretty well all blocking can be undermined by utilising a VPN tunnel.
Ofcom are also keen to ensure the injunctions are not unduely punitive and there is accountability.
2011/08/01
VoIP can be a dangerous game
Many businesses are starting to deploy or already have deployed IP PBX's (private branch exchanges) which are the guts of VoIP that route calls to local telephones or allow employees to make external calls.
Companies will either run the IP PBX themselves or even deploy remotely in a data centre (generally for a multisite company) or run a hosted system from a VoIP company.
Unfortunately if these systems aren't deployed carefully it can be easy for 'hackers' to connect to them and make out-going phone calls which can rapidly generate huge bills (they tend to target international premium rate numbers that they control, or just are used to route calls for 3rd parties).
Asterisk is a very commonly used open source IP PBX and in the past, the default SIP configuration allowed open access (this has been closed in newer releases). Many IP PBX's will also have open VoIP/SIP access (i.e. unauthenticated remote access - which allows remote users to dial internal extensions, however without having a sensible dial-plan these users can do outward dialling too).
In some cases the VoIP configurations will only allow secure connections, but the web configuration will have default credentials, so a remote attacker can just go in and create a new VoIP user which they then use to outward dial.
A company suffered such an attack over the weekend and was faced with a bill for £12,000+ worth of phone calls.
Though the company was to blame for not securing the web interface, the telephony provider (which could be a normal PSTN provider i.e. someone who provides traditional fixed line services or a VoIP provider) should have provision to check for unusual traffic patterns. So if normally calls are just made to the UK, they should block calls if there's suddenly a large volume to international numbers.
Any company getting a new phone system should check their provider offers such checks or they could be faced with large bills that they'll be liable for.
Companies will either run the IP PBX themselves or even deploy remotely in a data centre (generally for a multisite company) or run a hosted system from a VoIP company.
Unfortunately if these systems aren't deployed carefully it can be easy for 'hackers' to connect to them and make out-going phone calls which can rapidly generate huge bills (they tend to target international premium rate numbers that they control, or just are used to route calls for 3rd parties).
Asterisk is a very commonly used open source IP PBX and in the past, the default SIP configuration allowed open access (this has been closed in newer releases). Many IP PBX's will also have open VoIP/SIP access (i.e. unauthenticated remote access - which allows remote users to dial internal extensions, however without having a sensible dial-plan these users can do outward dialling too).
In some cases the VoIP configurations will only allow secure connections, but the web configuration will have default credentials, so a remote attacker can just go in and create a new VoIP user which they then use to outward dial.
A company suffered such an attack over the weekend and was faced with a bill for £12,000+ worth of phone calls.
Though the company was to blame for not securing the web interface, the telephony provider (which could be a normal PSTN provider i.e. someone who provides traditional fixed line services or a VoIP provider) should have provision to check for unusual traffic patterns. So if normally calls are just made to the UK, they should block calls if there's suddenly a large volume to international numbers.
Any company getting a new phone system should check their provider offers such checks or they could be faced with large bills that they'll be liable for.
Worksnug goes live on Ovi
Last week (28/07/11) Worksnug announced their new iPhone app which includes all of HP's ePrint locations. The app offers an augmented reality display showing locations of workspaces and now also free HP ePrint solutions. The locations can also be viewed using a traditional map view. The app also providers addition tools for the mobile worker such as an integrated decibel meter in the mobile app, allowing users to assess and share noise levels inside working locations, and a unique ‘VoIP Checker’ tool, which assesses the ability of public WiFi networks to support VoIP calls.
Today (01/08/11) Worksnug have announced the availability of their Symbian app which has gone live in the Ovi store.
Worksnug also have a Blackberry client.
Worksnug was founded by Richard Leyland in 2009 to solve the problem of where to work when on the move and has now a growing database of public and public workspaces. The company has relationships with Plantronics, Cisco, Skype and HP.
Today (01/08/11) Worksnug have announced the availability of their Symbian app which has gone live in the Ovi store.
Worksnug also have a Blackberry client.
Worksnug was founded by Richard Leyland in 2009 to solve the problem of where to work when on the move and has now a growing database of public and public workspaces. The company has relationships with Plantronics, Cisco, Skype and HP.
New PhonePayPlus regulations affect all PRS providers
Ofcom has issued a statement concerning premium rate phone services (PRS) which come into force on the 1st of September 2011.
PhonePayPlus (PPP) is the industry regulator for PRS (and Ofcom have empowered PPP to handle all PRS regulatory issues). PPP will issue a new Code of Practice (12th edition) on the same date (12/10/11) and this will affect all PRS providers (not just the current subset).
The new code will tighten up issues left in the previous code and PPP is there to protect consumers (Ofcom have to power to ban companies and individuals from operating PRS if they misuse them).
PhonePayPlus (PPP) is the industry regulator for PRS (and Ofcom have empowered PPP to handle all PRS regulatory issues). PPP will issue a new Code of Practice (12th edition) on the same date (12/10/11) and this will affect all PRS providers (not just the current subset).
The new code will tighten up issues left in the previous code and PPP is there to protect consumers (Ofcom have to power to ban companies and individuals from operating PRS if they misuse them).
2011/07/31
Springboard gives birth to 10 promising companies
Friday 29th July was investor day for Springboard, the mentoring and accelerator program based out of Cambridge, where the 10 companies that had gone through the system did their final pitches to a packed audience made up of investors (in Springboard itself), mentors (including myself) and lots of VCs.
Springboard is loosely based on the TechStars program out of the US and was initiated by Red Gate Software in 2009 (this being the second incarnation). This year it was supported by Red Gate, angels and NESTA and took place in the Hauser Forum.
Compared to The Difference Engine (a similar program which took place in Sunderland last year) the teams and pitches were definitely more polished and all came out vastly improved (and some radically different) from when they started the program.
The teams were (in order of appearance)
Adwings - Lithuania - a ad publishing platform that allows tracking of campaigns to various destination media including print, digital and mobile.
Apiary.io - Prague, Czech Republic - A 'techy' service allowing companies to quickly build and deploy web APIs (application programming interfaces) while testing and monitoring and documenting them.
Arachnys - Cambridge, UK - a services for providing due-diligence on companies in emerging markets by consolidating all available information.
Hubflow - Bournemouth, UK - a service that converts existing training material into a mobile format (with tracking metrics to see how well the user is performing). This allows companies to offer training materials to their employees on their mobile device to be completed in dead time (such as when commuting) or at their own convenience.
Mayday - London, UK - a web based service that plugs into a company's .Net process to alert the company to errors in the process, hopefully before customers start complaining.
MiniMonos - Wellington, NZ - a virtual world for children (male) between 8 and 12. A Freemoim service with subscriptions and virtual goods. The site has been around for 2 years, but the new site launched last month and now has around 300,000 users. Membership packs will be available from Sainsbury's in Oct (next to Moshi Monsters etc).
Playmob - London, UK - a platform allowing games developers to easily integrate charitable payments into games (i.e. for virtual goods) and for Charities to easily sign-up to the service which should fully launch in October 2011.
Publification - Tartu, Estonia - a web based HTML5 authoring system and browser based eReader that works across multiple platforms (i.e. desktop and mobile). Once books have been downloaded they can be read off-line. The platform can be white-labelled for publishers and authors can also self-publish.
Tastebuds - London, UK - dating site based on music likes where matches are made based on music preferences. Users can just add artists they like or the service will import from Last.fm and/or Facebook.
Total Gigs, Newcastle, UK - a web service allowing disparate users to share content from events they have attending (making them into groups). After the event has taken place users can relive the event from the group content.
The program was driven by John Bradford with day to day organisation help from Jessica Williamson.
John's next accelerator program is Ignite100 and if the quality improves every time he runs one, it should produce some amazing companies.
Springboard is loosely based on the TechStars program out of the US and was initiated by Red Gate Software in 2009 (this being the second incarnation). This year it was supported by Red Gate, angels and NESTA and took place in the Hauser Forum.
Compared to The Difference Engine (a similar program which took place in Sunderland last year) the teams and pitches were definitely more polished and all came out vastly improved (and some radically different) from when they started the program.
The teams were (in order of appearance)
Adwings - Lithuania - a ad publishing platform that allows tracking of campaigns to various destination media including print, digital and mobile.
Apiary.io - Prague, Czech Republic - A 'techy' service allowing companies to quickly build and deploy web APIs (application programming interfaces) while testing and monitoring and documenting them.
Arachnys - Cambridge, UK - a services for providing due-diligence on companies in emerging markets by consolidating all available information.
Hubflow - Bournemouth, UK - a service that converts existing training material into a mobile format (with tracking metrics to see how well the user is performing). This allows companies to offer training materials to their employees on their mobile device to be completed in dead time (such as when commuting) or at their own convenience.
Mayday - London, UK - a web based service that plugs into a company's .Net process to alert the company to errors in the process, hopefully before customers start complaining.
MiniMonos - Wellington, NZ - a virtual world for children (male) between 8 and 12. A Freemoim service with subscriptions and virtual goods. The site has been around for 2 years, but the new site launched last month and now has around 300,000 users. Membership packs will be available from Sainsbury's in Oct (next to Moshi Monsters etc).
Playmob - London, UK - a platform allowing games developers to easily integrate charitable payments into games (i.e. for virtual goods) and for Charities to easily sign-up to the service which should fully launch in October 2011.
Publification - Tartu, Estonia - a web based HTML5 authoring system and browser based eReader that works across multiple platforms (i.e. desktop and mobile). Once books have been downloaded they can be read off-line. The platform can be white-labelled for publishers and authors can also self-publish.
Tastebuds - London, UK - dating site based on music likes where matches are made based on music preferences. Users can just add artists they like or the service will import from Last.fm and/or Facebook.
Total Gigs, Newcastle, UK - a web service allowing disparate users to share content from events they have attending (making them into groups). After the event has taken place users can relive the event from the group content.
The program was driven by John Bradford with day to day organisation help from Jessica Williamson.
John's next accelerator program is Ignite100 and if the quality improves every time he runs one, it should produce some amazing companies.
2011/07/28
RIM releases BBM v6
RIM have released Blackberry Messenger version 6, which allows application integration so say a BBM connected game will allow the user to invite a BBM friend to play.
The first wave of BBM connected applications will go live on Blackberry World today.
There are around 45m monthly active users of BBM and RIM hope to increase this by adding functionality to BBM such as location services and VoIP.
If Apple and Google can offer a competing messaging system that really competes with BBM, then it really may be the end of RIM.
The first wave of BBM connected applications will go live on Blackberry World today.
There are around 45m monthly active users of BBM and RIM hope to increase this by adding functionality to BBM such as location services and VoIP.
If Apple and Google can offer a competing messaging system that really competes with BBM, then it really may be the end of RIM.
Skype for Windows offers deeper Facebook integration
Skype have released version 5.5 for Windows which now allows checking the availability of Facebook friends without leaving the Skype client.
There are also improvements to the group chat functionality and the video quality.
Though Skype currently dominate this space, Vonage are releasing mobile clients that will allow VoIP calls, there is already a Vonage client for iPhone which integrates with Facebook chat (but doesn't allow access to other Vonage users).
There are also improvements to the group chat functionality and the video quality.
Though Skype currently dominate this space, Vonage are releasing mobile clients that will allow VoIP calls, there is already a Vonage client for iPhone which integrates with Facebook chat (but doesn't allow access to other Vonage users).
2011/07/27
Mozilla plans mobile OS
Mozilla is joining the mobile operating systems bandwaggon and plans to launch Boot to Gecko (B2G) an open operating system designed to run web applications in the cloud.
Google has already gone part of the way with ChromeOS which so far has only been deployed on Netbooks (while Android boasts native apps). HP's WebOS is also out there, on both phones and tablets.
Intel are also trying with MeeGo - though the loss of Nokia (who have migrated to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 or WP7) might have slowed things down.
The B2G will support Firefox (Mozilla's open source browser), they're are not tying the OS to it and will support 3rd party browsers if they wish to support B2G.
Another mobile OS may just confuse the market more, though the Mozilla product is likely to be completely open source (as far as any OS can be that supports closed parts such as the GSM/2G/3G stacks).
Google has already gone part of the way with ChromeOS which so far has only been deployed on Netbooks (while Android boasts native apps). HP's WebOS is also out there, on both phones and tablets.
Intel are also trying with MeeGo - though the loss of Nokia (who have migrated to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 or WP7) might have slowed things down.
The B2G will support Firefox (Mozilla's open source browser), they're are not tying the OS to it and will support 3rd party browsers if they wish to support B2G.
Another mobile OS may just confuse the market more, though the Mozilla product is likely to be completely open source (as far as any OS can be that supports closed parts such as the GSM/2G/3G stacks).
2011/07/25
RIP Steve Lacey
This weekend turned out to be a weekend of carnage, a right wing fanatic killed lots of people in Norway and Amy Whitehouse died. However the most depressing thing turned out to be the death of a good friend Steve Lacey, who was killed instantly when a road-rage driver lost control of his car which went over a central reservation barrier and ploughed into Steve's car.
Steve was a a lovely guy and made a lasting impression on everyone he met, definitely a geek but a nice guy too.
He leaves behind his wife and 2 young children, he will be sorely missed. Thoughts are with his family.
Steve was a a lovely guy and made a lasting impression on everyone he met, definitely a geek but a nice guy too.
He leaves behind his wife and 2 young children, he will be sorely missed. Thoughts are with his family.
2011/07/22
TIM is 75 on Sunday 24th July
TIM is affectionate name for the BT speaking clock (or as it's now called Timeline), which was the first 3 letters of the T.I.M.E on the old telephone pad.
It's now accessed by dialling 123 and it still gets around 30m callers per year.
It was originally designed at the Post Office Engineering Research Station at Dollis Hill in North London (which is also where Collossus the code breaking 'computer' was conceived) and introduced on July 24th 1936. It was only available to London callers, only going national in 1942.
There have been 4 permanent voices the first being Jane Cain 1936 - 1963, followed by Pat Simmons 1963 – 1985 and Brian Cobby 1985 – 2007 (the only male voice) and finally Sara Mendes da Costa 2007 to present.
There have also been celebrity voices (Lenny Henry for Comic Relief in 2003 and Alicia Roland for ChildLine. Mae Whitman the voice of Tinker Bell in 2008 for the release of the movie and Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, Chris Moyles, Kimberley Walsh and Fearne Cotton for Comic Relief 2009).
The speaking clock used to be accurate to 1/10 of a sec on, but is now accurate to 5/1000's of a second (and Big Ben's time is checked against the speaking clock).
It's now accessed by dialling 123 and it still gets around 30m callers per year.
It was originally designed at the Post Office Engineering Research Station at Dollis Hill in North London (which is also where Collossus the code breaking 'computer' was conceived) and introduced on July 24th 1936. It was only available to London callers, only going national in 1942.
There have been 4 permanent voices the first being Jane Cain 1936 - 1963, followed by Pat Simmons 1963 – 1985 and Brian Cobby 1985 – 2007 (the only male voice) and finally Sara Mendes da Costa 2007 to present.
There have also been celebrity voices (Lenny Henry for Comic Relief in 2003 and Alicia Roland for ChildLine. Mae Whitman the voice of Tinker Bell in 2008 for the release of the movie and Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole, Chris Moyles, Kimberley Walsh and Fearne Cotton for Comic Relief 2009).
The speaking clock used to be accurate to 1/10 of a sec on, but is now accurate to 5/1000's of a second (and Big Ben's time is checked against the speaking clock).
2011/07/21
Intel's Museum of Me
Though it's been around for a while, Intel have developed an application called the Museum of Me which takes your social graph (by logging in with Facebook Connect) and then uses data from your feed and places it on the "wall" of the virtual museum.
It's almost creepy as it's as though you're looking at your life in the past, but it's visually very impressive.
Here's an intro video
This also shows how much information is available to applications when utilising Facebook Connect, that's more scary.
It's almost creepy as it's as though you're looking at your life in the past, but it's visually very impressive.
Here's an intro video
This also shows how much information is available to applications when utilising Facebook Connect, that's more scary.
2011/07/20
Ofcom reduces BT's wholesale broadband charges
Ofcom the super regulator today has published a statement which means that BT will have to drop its wholesale broadband prices by 12% below inflation where they are the only broadband provider. Ofcom believes this will lead to better competition as resellers can provide a better quality of service.
The price controls come into effect on 17th August 2011 and remain in effect until March 2012.
Ofcom also published a statement on charge controls for 08 and 09 number ranges as BT has significant market power for call origination and also number translation services.
The price controls come into effect on 17th August 2011 and remain in effect until March 2012.
Ofcom also published a statement on charge controls for 08 and 09 number ranges as BT has significant market power for call origination and also number translation services.
2011/07/19
SeaMicro puts 768 cores into a 10U system
The new SeaMicro SM1000-64HD is an evolution of the SM1000-64 offering 1.5 times the speed but only consuming 1.25 times the power.
Each unit packs 384 dual-core Intel Atom processors and each processor can have 4GB RAM (i.e. 1.5TB in total) and can support 64 SATA hard drives for storage.
A base unit costs $237,000.00 which sounds a lot, but it's relatively cheap for that amount of compute power.
A standard 42U rack can hold 4 systems allowing 3072 cores per rack.
SeaMicro have said eHarmony and Mozilla are both using their systems.
They are open to using ARM CPUs when the right server processors are produced.
Each unit packs 384 dual-core Intel Atom processors and each processor can have 4GB RAM (i.e. 1.5TB in total) and can support 64 SATA hard drives for storage.
A base unit costs $237,000.00 which sounds a lot, but it's relatively cheap for that amount of compute power.
A standard 42U rack can hold 4 systems allowing 3072 cores per rack.
SeaMicro have said eHarmony and Mozilla are both using their systems.
They are open to using ARM CPUs when the right server processors are produced.
2011/07/18
BBC launches a crowd-sourced 3G mapping app
The BBC has launched an Android application that measures 3G signal strengths in the background (along with location data), so that real-time UK coverage maps can be produced.
The app is available from the Android Marketplace (a free download).
The app was developed by Epitoro for the BBC.
Though it's a nice idea, there are other solutions out there and OpenSignalMaps have been around for a while and are mapping 2G and 3G signals worldwide, their app is available from the Android Marketplace too.
It's a shame as the OpenSignalMaps app has been around for a while but not had the traction that the BBC can make happen, maybe they should combine forces to aggregate the data.
Neither the BBC or OpenSignalMaps has an iPhone app (it's much harder to do and may go against Apple's T&Cs), though OpenSignalMaps say they're working on one.
The app is available from the Android Marketplace (a free download).
The app was developed by Epitoro for the BBC.
Though it's a nice idea, there are other solutions out there and OpenSignalMaps have been around for a while and are mapping 2G and 3G signals worldwide, their app is available from the Android Marketplace too.
It's a shame as the OpenSignalMaps app has been around for a while but not had the traction that the BBC can make happen, maybe they should combine forces to aggregate the data.
Neither the BBC or OpenSignalMaps has an iPhone app (it's much harder to do and may go against Apple's T&Cs), though OpenSignalMaps say they're working on one.
2011/07/14
Spotify launches in US today
Any current Spotify users can invite their friends from across the pond to use the service while anyone in the US can sign-up to apply for membership.
It's taken a while, but Spotify US is a go-er and they've beaten Apple with their new iCloud service and others.
It's yet to be seen how popular Spotify will be in the US as there are existing music streaming services.
It's taken a while, but Spotify US is a go-er and they've beaten Apple with their new iCloud service and others.
It's yet to be seen how popular Spotify will be in the US as there are existing music streaming services.
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