Simon Perry

Microsoft Gets Huge €uro Fine
Microsoft have been fined by the European Commission for failing to comply with an anti-competitive ruling.
Their fine is unprecedented at €280.5 million ($375m, £193.8m) and covers a period from 16 December to 20 June at 1.5m Euro/day.
The EC threatens that it will raise the fine to 3m Euro/day if they continue to not comply beyond 31 July.
This tiff between Europe and Microsoft is related to the Media Player and “work group servers,” which Europe want to become more open, enabling other companies to compete against them.
The EC made a previous ruling against Microsoft in March 2004 when they threatened fines up to €497 million ($632m, £330m).
Europe have acted far more harshly that the US Justice Department which has been waiting for papers from Microsoft on a similar issue since 2002.
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes was quoted by Reuters as saying, “Microsoft has still not put an end to its illegal conduct. I have no alternative but to levy penalty payments for this continued non-compliance. No company is above the law.”
12 July, 2006
Develop Conference & Expo
11-13 July 2006 The Develop Conference & Expo in Brighton is bringing together some of the world’s most creative and talented individuals from every sector of games development. At the heart of the event is a conference program that operates on three levels; a full two-day program of 42 sessions split across six tracks; workshops, and walk-in seminars which are free to attend. This is coupled with an expo, featuring some of Europe’s leading players, which will also be free to attend for all pre-registered and qualified attendees. The result? An event that is fully inclusive for everyone in the development community regardless of budget. Brighton, England http://www.developconference.com/
11 July, 2006
Significant Demand For WiFi On Trains: Study
The research was carried out by consultancy firm, Accent, after being commissioned by GNER will shock precisely no-one who has used a train on a regular basis. We’re sure that every laptop-toting rail-warrior will whole heartily agree with this one.
Interestingly Rob Sheldon, Managing Director of Accent, outlined how the availability of WiFi is dictating peoples travel patterns, “Many passengers commented that they look for Wi-Fi availability when choosing how they travel and 14% of those interviewed said that they were likely to make extra journeys by train over the next six months as a direct result of being able to use Wi-Fi onboard.”
GNER have lead the trend of providing WiFi on trains in the UK as far back as 2004, when they launched a service on the East Coast Main Line. The only downside has been the price of their service which, while free for first-class toffs, has been a punishing hourly rate for everyone else. We’re glad to see that they’ve dropped the price from the eye-watering £10 it used to be to a still-pretty-expensive-in-our-book £5/hour, £8/2 hours, £10 unlimited within 24 hours.
Three cheers for GNER for sticking to their complete coverage across its entire train fleet by August 2006 promise, which they brought forward from 2007, back in May.
If there is a consistent WiFi connection, it may lead to a peculiar situation where it will be better to make calls on a VoIP service rather than rely on the very patchy cellular service that you get on-board trains.
We trust that GNER won’t be publishing the passwords for the Wi-Fi service as they previously did for their internal system.
GNER WiFi page
11 July, 2006
Google Mail: Delete All Spam Feature Arrives
Google mail has released a feature that has been long requested by any long term Gmail user – Delete all Spam messages now.
Previously to rid yourself spam within Gmail you had to delete them all screen by screen, by clicking on Select All, then Delete, repeated endlessly until all of the pesky messages had been wiped out.
HowTo
To use the new feature, simply click on your Spam folder link, to find “Delete all spam message now”, sitting on top of your messages. You will then be met by a dialog box confirming that you want to delete them all.
We had great pleasure of wiping 12577 dreaded spam messages this morning and we’d highly recommend it all to you.
Google mail
11 July, 2006
Sky+ Remote Record: Mobile Sky+ Programming
Desperate to program your Sky+ PVR, while out and about? Or can’t be bothered to reach for the TV remote control when you’ve got you mobile in your hand?
Help is at hand (ha ha) as Sky announce their program-your-Sky+-box-via-your-mobile-service, that they’ve catchily named Sky+ Remote Record.
There are two ways to use the service. Either download an application to your mobile phone or via SMS on a mobile.
Remote Record
This is the comprehensive offering and only works on data-enabled 2.5G, 3G or GPRS phones.
To get setup, subscribers have to be registered via Sky Active and download the app to run on their mobiles.
From what we’ve seen it looks pretty slick, with a similar feel to the Sky EPG. It contains 7-days worth of programming listings and details on the shows.
Be aware that updating the EPG data will require updated information to be retrieved from Sky – along with corresponding data charges from your mobile operator. Beyond the mobile operators data charges, the service is free.
Text Your TV
We’re sure you’ve guessed the basics of this already – you text the programme you want recorded from your mobile.
It looks like using it might be a bit of palaver with the need to SMS quite precise and long winded instructionsThe Simpsons. Sky 1. 11/06. 18:30.
to the dedicated ‘Remote Record’ number 61759.
At the Sky-end a massive brain works out what they could have meant and sends them back a confirmation SMS, charging 25p in the process.
We’d imagine that great confusion will reign on Friday nights as the pissed up masses send their best guess at what a Television X programme might be called.
Availability
It will work with all Sky+ boxes including Sky HD, but is only available to subscribers with Sky Sports 1 & 2 and/or Sky Movies 1 & 2 in their package or be a Sky Bet customer.
Up to eight mobiles can be registered with either service per Sky+ box.
Following these mobile-focused announcements, Sky will be bringing out a similar service working over the Internet ‘over the summer.’
Sky continues to expand their application of technology to what was originally a satellite TV service.
A little bird tells us that Sky will be officially unveiling their Broadband ISP service soon. Back in October they bought EasyNet and have been busily bringing it in to the Sky fold and are planning to offer communication services, widely expected to be voice services as well.
7 July, 2006
YouTube Brookers Signs TV Deal
OK, you’re used to us breaking news here, but here’s one that slipped through without us noticing. We think it’s sufficiently important for us to swallow our pride and report it anyway.
In an inevitable move, an LA production company, Carson Daly Prods, has signed talent/development deal with Brooke “Brookers” Brodack, who has made quite a name for herself on YouTube. We’re sure you do, but just in case you don’t know what YouTube is, it’s a phenomenally popular Web site that holds videos watched at the rate of about 40m per day.
While it is predictable (yes, we’re surprised this type of deal hasn’t happened sooner too), it doesn’t make it any less significant. What was previously known as ‘the entertainment industry’ (music, films, tv, etc) has been very slow on the uptake to even notice that the ‘people’ have been madly creating their own entertainment and sharing it online. It finally looks like they’ve started to notice … and not only that, but guess what? It’s a pool of cheap talent to plunder, one without agents and prima-donna salaries and demands. That should get them listening.
Brookers, as she’s known as by tens of millions of YouTube viewers has been posting videos for about nine months, mostly featuring her doing pieces to camera, often miming to sound tracks.
The one that brought her to wide attention was her homage to Gary Brolsma’s Numa Numa.
It’s clear that Brookers has gone a number of steps beyond just plonking herself in front of her Web cam (as many homages do), they’re more of a production, using changing camera angles and locations.
Of course it’s not all about TV deals, realising the size of her audience, she’s recently posted an entry asking for people to donate to her car fund. Very cheeky.
How many people will continue to be able to show their talent like this in the future isn’t clear as various music industry voices have been talking about stopping ‘their music’ in personal videos. Strange – we thought it actually promoted the music.
Variety cover the story
5 July, 2006
Ofcom GPS Repeaters Ruling May Hit Mobile Phone GPS
Ofcom has just issued guidance that GPS repeaters are probably illegal in the UK, both in their use and their sale.
In their dry language, “Any person who places this type of apparatus on the market or uses it in the UK is likely to be committing an offence.”
Medium term this action could hit the wave of GPS-equiped mobile phones that are a year or so away, and the location-based services that they’ll bring.
GPS repeaters use radio signals to pass Global Positioning (GPS) or other Radionavigation Satellite system (RNSS) location information between units. Unless the operators have specific licenses, they be breaking the law in the UK.
GPS devices need to be able to receive the positional information from satellites. Initially this involved having line-of-sight to the ‘birds’, but as chip-sets have improved, they’ve become more sensitive, so requiring less direct sight. If GPS units work within buildings, they do so at the sacrifice of accuracy. Even with the chip improvements, GPS will not work within buildings, and certainly not underground.
We spoke to Jenny Bailey, Technical Director of J-Squared to get the low-down. J-Squared were funded by the DTi 3 years ago to develop a GPS repeater system, which they subsequently received a patent.
Jenny told us the major current use for GPS repeaters is by the emergency services. Ambulances stations are equipped with them to ensure their on-board GPS ‘know’ where they are as they leave, speeding them to their location. Police and firefighting services also benefit from being able to locate their personnel within buildings.
In the medium term, Ofcom will create quite a kerfuffle with this ruling. Mobile phones will, within a couple of years, be commonly equipped with GPS, enabling location-based information and services. These will not work within buildings without GPS repeaters, knocking their broad usefulness on the head. We’d imagine that the mobile companies will be on the phone to Ofcom sharpish.
Ofcom is becoming increasingly stringent on the ‘unauthorised’ use of radio spectrum. One of their Big Ideas is to auction off radio spectrum to the highest bidder and if people are using it without paying for it, the whole idea becomes undermined.
Given the inevitability of the march of mobile phones, it could be that Ofcom are acting as King Canute, but in this case attempting to hold back radio waves.
Ofcom GPS or GNSS signal repeaters ruling
J-Squared
Indoor Positioning Limited
4 July, 2006
Samsung NV Camera Range Announced
Samsung has released the details of their new digital camera range, Samsung NV – New Vision.
There are three cameras in the initial range, the NV3, NV7 OPS and NV10 – boiled down from 500 concept models explored over the two year of development cycle. Each camera is pitched at a different audience and has its own strength.
We’ve had our hands on all of them and can confirm that they’ve got a great feel.
They’re all pixel-loaded with the NV3 & NV7 having 7.2Mpx and the NV10 being the 10.1Mpx heavyweight.
Instantly notable is how thin each of the camera bodies are, with the skinniest being the NV3 a svelte 17.5mm.
In an attempt to address the frustration of digital camera needing increasingly complex and deep menuing, Samsung have developed the Smart Touch interface, fitted to the NV7 and NV10. With seven touch sensitive buttons along the bottom and six up the side of the 2.5″ back screens, menu choices are simply made by running your finger along the buttons until the required option is located. Think selection through cross-hairs.
Despite the NV10 being the pixel-brute, the NV7 is really the Daddy of the range carrying all of the nifty tricks including a 7x optical zoom, OPS (Optical Picture Stabilisation) and ASR (Advanced Share Reduction). OPS detects the movement of the camera and shifts the CCD to compensate for it, leading to a more-still photo. The NV7 also has a rather huge lens on it, ideal for taking picture in low light.
The NV3 is the one that we think will get you most excited dear reader. It’s not only a camera, but an mp3 player and PMP, so it can play films too. It’s equipped with stereo speakers, so you can share you tunes too.
Samsung have pretty ambition plans for the progression of their digital cameras. They currently have 9% of the market and if they stay on course, will have 10% by the end of this year.
Their plans are 13% market share (MS to those in the know) by 2007; 16% by 2008 and 20% by 2009. If they reach this, they will be the top leader in the market.
Given how they’ve come from more-or-less nowhere to such a strong position in mobile phones, it’s highly believable that they can achieve it.
The cameras should be available by September at the following suggested retail prices, NV7 OPS – £299, NV10 – £279 and NV3 – £229
Samsung
4 July, 2006
BPI vs AllofMP3: Granted ‘first hurdle’ by UK High Court
UK British music recording industry trade association, the BPi, has today issued a statement that they have “successfully jumped the first hurdle in its battle to have unauthorised Russian download site AllofMP3.com declared illegal.”
AllofMP3 has been really getting on their wicks for a long time, as it sells music downloads for normally under $2 per _album_ rather than the 99c per track that iTunes has made standard. Given the choice between the two prices, many people are going the cheaper route offered by AllofMP3.com.
To take action against an entity outside the UK, the BPI is required to apply to the UK High Court. This is what has now been granted.
The BPI’s next steps aren’t certain and they told us that they contemplating various options. Possibilities include taking personal legal action against the owners/directors of AllofMP3 or against the company as a legal entity.
They informed us that various treaties exist between the UK and Russia for pursuing legal actions.
The argument of the BPI is that AllofMP3 has no right to be selling the music, as they aren’t licensed to do so. AllofMP3 counter that they are “authorized by the license # LS-3М-05-03 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and license # 006/3M-05 of the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR).”
We asked the BPI about this and they claimed that ROMS “wasn’t a collection society recognised by the UK industry.”
It’s clear that the BPI isn’t going to just let AllofMP3 continue with what they view as illegal activity. Taking legal action across International boarders is pretty tough, as is enforcing these legal actions. The BPI’s lawyers must be rubbing their hands with glee.
ifpi’s words on AllohMP3
AllofMP3.com’s view on their legality
3 July, 2006
Packard Bell EasyNote ‘Skype Edition’ Laptop: Mini Review: Exclusive
We played with the Packard Bell EasyNote ‘Skype Edition’ Laptop, at its first European showing yesterday. The machine we used was the only one in Europe and had been jetted in from development labs in Estonia.
They claim it to be the worlds first ‘Skype Edition’ laptop, and we’ve no reason to doubt them. While many machines have been selling with Skype pre-loaded on it, this is the first to have a dedicated button built-in to the machine.
If your reaction is, ‘so what? It’s a laptop with a soft-button on it,’ that wouldn’t have been too dissimilar to our initial reaction – before we used it. After having seen it action, our view is more favorable.
Where’s the button?
Our first surprise was to find the Skype button at the top of the screen, where you normally find the catch. We’d expected it to be on or around the keyboard.
As you can see from the close-up photo, the Skype button sits on the right, the microphone on the left and in the centre is a video camera, a la new Mac laptops. There’s an LED between the mic and video camera and another surrounding the Skype button.
How does it work?
The button performs various functions depending on what you’re doing with Skype at the time.
If you’re working on another app and feel the urge to Skype someone, pressing the Skype button, brings the software to the foreground. No big shock there.
When a Skype call comes in to you, pressing the button answers the call, bringing you live.
There’s a LED surrounding the button that shows various states of call as follows
- Orange colored when Skype application is connected to Internet and in idle mode
- Orange/Green alternate blinking when there is an incoming Skype call
- Green when there is an active Skype call in progress
- OFF when Skype application is not connected to Internet or not launched
The green LED between the mic and camera shows solid green to indicated you have a call in progress, perhaps to save you from the embarrassment of slagging off the person you’ve just completed a call with, while thinking the call had finished.
Calling quality
One of the concerns we’d had was the placement of the mic and the call quality that might bring.
We know that the mic on the Apple iBook lid is less than great to be using with Skype. We often find ourselves craning our necks forward, and half closing the lid to get close enough to the mic to make ourselves heard by the other party.
Packard-Bell appear to have got over this. In the call that we placed, the other end reported they could hear us perfectly well, despite us being around two feet away from the laptop and the room that we were calling from being pretty noisy.
On reflection we realised that the palaver we go through with the Mac wouldn’t work on this machine as, if you were on a video call, they’d be getting a view of your space bar.
Video built-in
As I’m sure you know, video conferencing has been included in Skype for a while now (it was one of the most requested features). By including the camera at the lid, Packard-Bell have made it easy to video call while on the move – without having to lash video cameras to the lid of your machine.
Having seen the preview window, we can report that the results were pretty impressive. The quality appeared to be more that sufficient for video conferencing.
General spec and availability
The general spec of this machine is described by Packard-Bell as having a “high-performance Intel Dual-core.”
We’ve absolutely no idea what the general computing function of this machine is – that’s not what we were looking at. Given that PC designs has been perfecting since the release of the IBM XT, we’d suspect that it’s pretty much as you’d expect.
The Packard-Bell EasyNote ‘Skype Edition’ is expected to be getting to retail in August this year at a cost of E899.
Packard Bell
30 June, 2006