UK

UK Web-rage Man Gets 2 Years Jail
The UK first case of Web-rage to go through the courts has reached sentencing.
Paul Gibbons, 47, of Bermondsey, south-east London has been handed a two year jail stretch.
It all started when Gibbons took an extreme dislike (to put it lightly) to some of the online discussion comments put forward to John Jones, 43, who lived in Essex. This grew to the point where Jones taunted Gibbons.
The normal course of events in this type of occasion, would be a flame war as the various parties attack each other over a series of posts – then, eventually it would fizzle out.
Not this time. Gibbons took such affront, that he gathered details online about John Jones’ address and went to pay him a visit, complete with a pickaxe handle and a friend with a machete.
When Jones opened the door of his house – with a knife of his own, he was severely attacked.
There have been previous examples of people being attacked for online conflict. In China, one player of online game “Legend of Mir 3” killed another over a dispute over ownership of a virtual sword.
As Investigating Officer Det Sgt Jean-Marc Bazzoni of Essex Police said, “The dangers of giving personal information out in a chatroom environment must never be underestimated.”
(via)
17 November, 2006
UK Broadband Consumer Satisfaction Hits New Low
A new YouGov survey has found that “free” broadband deals have resulted in lower customer satisfaction levels.
The figures released by the uSwitch Customer Satisfaction Report show that most providers aren’t managing to keep their increasing customer numbers happy, with a 9% drop in broadband satisfaction levels registered among the 11,000 customers surveyed.
The report also puts consumer’s trust in their Internet suppliers at an “all time low”.
Scraping along the bottom of the customer satisfaction levels is the notorious TalkTalk service run by Carphone Warehouse, which could only muster 70% of punters happy with their service.
The service was the subject of a recent BBC Watchdog investigation after thousands of customers failed to get connected and were forced to endure lengthy waits on costly pay-per-minute helplines.
Orange fared just as badly, coming joint bottom, while Virgin.net scored the highest customer satisfaction levels at 85%, ahead of Telewest and Tiscali.
uSwitch said that despite1.5 million new customers signing up broadband over the past ten months, providers had failed to match the growth with improvements in customer service levels.
“It’s disappointing to see that the majority of providers are failing to accompany the growth in customer numbers by sufficient growth in customer service operations and the required investment in their technology to ensure that they are looking after customer needs in an acceptable manner,” said Steve Weller, communications chief services at uSwitch.
“These results should provide a clear signal that customers are demanding a more comprehensive, sophisticated range of services, and it is becoming more important than ever before for providers to offer value for money in terms of both price and service,” he added.
uSwitch.
15 November, 2006
OverBoard Extreme Pro-Sports Floating Waterproof iPod Case
A UK company specialising in waterproof bags, OverBoard, have widened their selection of waterproof cases to include electronic gear.
As many of you may have found out to your disappointment, electronics goods do _not_ mix with either water or sand where they either short out in the case of water, or start making a horrible grinding sound in the case of sand.
OverBoard already had cases for mobile phones, PSP and various music players including iPod that could be used for “leisure activities,’ such as light swimming or chilling by the pool or knocking around on a sandy beach.
OverBoard tell us that it’s even possible to make a phone call with the case in place.
Not content with just providing their leisure range, they’ve decided to tackle the design problem of a waterproof iPod case for extreme water sports, a range they call pro-Sports. Not only are they more rugged, but float, so your rather expensive music player doesn’t start playing its tunes to the fishes.
I got my hands on them at the WhiteAir Extreme Sports Festival
I’d never seen waterproof ipod cases before and was surprised to see a headphone adaptor pointing out of the bottom of it – quite how else I thought you’d listen to them is anyones guess. The connector is gold to minimise corrosion, but OverBoard recommend washing the unit through with freshwater after use.
Taking the music player in and out of the case is simple. Overboard’s seal on these cases are sliders, so moving these apart gives direct access to the waterproof pouch. Once the headphone plug has been inserted into the player, sealing the bag is just a case of pushing the sliders together again. Controlling the player is simple through the clear section of the case.
The time I had with it gave me the impression that the case is very tough. There’s two leads supplied, a neoprene velcro sports arm strap (for attaching to your arm – in the photo) and a safety break neck lanyard.
Overboard have good a couple of developments underway. The first is a PSP bag which they’re adding a headphone socket to and they tell me that they’re planning on bringing out some waterproof headphones soon.
The Pro-sport range iPod player (black and white) is available from the OverBoard site for £24.99 (€37, $48).
OverBoard Pro-Sport case
OverBoard
Some more photos of the OverBoard cases
10 November, 2006
BT Vision Signs Disney Content Deal
BT has signed a deal with The Walt Disney Company, to deliver their programming over the soon to be launched BT Vision IPTV service.
The good news for BT is that the deal covers not only Disney’s library content, but importantly for BT, new material when it comes available. The new Disney content carries a lot of weight with the UK viewing public (for some reason).
The deal will also cover content from Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films.
Names of some of the films will be bound to get some people excited with box-office hits ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,’ the Academy Award®-winning ‘Memoirs of a Geisha,’ plus comedies ‘The Shaggy Dog’ and ‘Scary Movie 4.’
Dan Marks, CEO of BT Vision, enthused: “We look forward to working with Disney to develop and use innovative technology to continue providing our customers with choice, convenience and control over their movie-watching.”
BT Vision has been under development for problems with Microsoft’s IPTV service.
BT Vision
9 November, 2006
UK Online Fraud Soars, Card Fraud Down
New figures from the UK payments association Apacs reveal that online bank fraud losses rose a whopping 55% to £22.5m in the first six months of 2006.
This compares to the total of £14.5m for the same period last year.
However, card fraud fell by 5 per cent during the first half of 2006, dropping from £219.5m to £209.3m, with the reduction due to increased use of chip-and-PIN cards.
Most of the online banking frauds involve phishing scams where customers receive an email that purports to come their own bank, but is in fact from steenkin’ fraudsters out to con them into revealing their personal banking details.
Apacs reported that card users aren’t helping themselves much, with a quarter (25%) of Brits admitting to telling their PIN number to someone else, and more than a quarter (27%) using the same PIN for all their cards.
Another 44% were also guilty of letting the cards out of their sight when paying bills is places like restaurants and bars, with more than half of all online shoppers (51%) never bothering to check that they’re using a secure website address starting with “https” before buying online.
Commenting on the figures, a spokesperson for Apacs said: ‘These latest fraud figures show that the industry’s efforts are making their mark”
“However, each and everyone of us can also help defeat the fraudsters, and protect our cards and online accounts, by keeping our PINs, passwords and personal information safe and secure.”
Apacs is also liasing with banks, card schemes, retailers and systems vendors on a new online and telephone shopping authentication system that involves a cardholder inserting their chip and PIN card into a handheld reader, and entering their PIN.
[From Politics.co.uk]
Phishing resources
CardWatch
Bank Safe Online
Recognise phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails
Wikipedia
SonicWALL Phishing IQ Test
8 November, 2006
Love TV In The Living Room, Hate Paying For It
A new survey has revealed that UK consumers are way down with streaming and downloading audio-visual content into their living room, but they’re not so keen on paying for the stuff.
Research from the Olswang Convergence Consumer Survey 2006 showed that some 40% of UK consumers are already streaming or downloading audio-visual content onto their PCs, with nearly half of that total settling down to watch the content in their living room.
Of the content watched, it was found that punters preferred to watch full-length feature films and TV programmes on their PCs rather than shorter clips and trailers.
While the growing influence of the PC in the living room should spell good news for content creators and distributors, it seems that punters are definitely not warming to the idea of paying to receive the content on their home PCs.
The report found that half of those questioned weren’t prepared to pay a single Goddamn bean extra for streamed/downloaded content, with a further 18% only willing to cough up £2 per month for content, and 22% only happy to pay between £2 and £5.
Matthew Phillips, media, communications and technology partner at Olswang, commented, ” As broadcasters, rights holders and service providers continue to negotiate control over media rights, the key challenge is to offer a range of content which is broad enough for consumers to find something they want to watch and are willing to pay for.”
It seems that the battle isn’t just about getting people to pay for the content, but also getting them to actually pay attention.
According to Olswang’s research, easily-distracted, multi-tasking consumers are paying less attention to watching programmes, with 46% of respondents busy emailing and 43% web surfing while watching television.
A bit like us then. Whoops!
Olswang
6 November, 2006
Gmail Java Mobile IS Available Outside US
You’ve probably seen the news yesterday that Google released a new Java client for accessing Gmail from your mobile phone.
The majority of Digital-Lifestyles writers are UK-based, so we were feeling a little left out by being lead to believe by Google that the application was only available to those who live in the US. Google official press release contained,
It is currently compatible with all J2ME-enabled phones in the U.S. and works with a variety of carrier service plans.
When you pointed your computer Browser at the Web address given by Google to download it, you are indeed met forwarded to Google Mobile with no option to download Gmail Java Mobile.
Being the inquisitive little ferrets that we are, we jumped on to our ever-at-hand mobiles to try the same thing. Not expecting much, as we’re outside the US, you can imagine our surprise when we were given the option of downloading the app – but persisted with the US/Canada only malarky. We were warned that the app might not work correctly.
A little frisson of excitement hit the room (yes, it’s true) as the app flitted over the air, all 112k of it. We were met with the gmail login screen, which after entering the relevant, we crossed our finger (nto before hand, have you tried typing with crossed fingers?).
Argh .. the handset we used fell at the final hurdle, but we pressed on with some others until success! We checked in with Cristian Streng to find out he’d had success too using his Nokia E50 in Romania.
We can confirm that the app is a big improvement on the previous browser-based version with the number keys being used to carry out commonly-used functions.
So non-US, Java-mobile phone carrying, gmail users – with a desire to get your mail on the go (phew), you can rest assured that you can get access to it.
Gmail Java Mobile From your mobile phone browser of course.
3 November, 2006
Britain: Third Worst Country For Privacy
Britain’s Information Commissioner has published a study concluding that, within 10 years, surveillance of people living in the UK will be all-pervasive.
Alongside the report is a league-table of privacy around the world. Shockingly, Britain currently is the third most surveilled country in the world, behind Russia and China.
CCTV coverage alone is at an all-time high, with an estimated 4.2m CCTV cameras, one for every 14 members of public in the UK.
It’s important to note that this study isn’t published by what some would view as a “pressure group” like Privacy International, but by a civil servant – The Information Commissioner.
This isn’t the first time that The Information Commissioner has raised concern over the way privacy is going in the UK. Two years ago he was on record as saying “we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society.”
His view now? “They (surveillance activities) may be necessary or desirable — for example to fight terrorism and serious crime, to improve entitlement and access to public and private services, and to improve health care. But unseen, uncontrolled or excessive surveillance can foster a climate of suspicion and undermine trust.”
He added: “As ever-more information is collected, shared and used, it intrudes into our private space and leads to decisions which directly influence people’s lives.
“Mistakes can also easily be made with serious consequences — false matches and other cases of mistaken identity, inaccurate facts or inferences, suspicions taken as reality, and breaches of security. I am keen to start a debate about where the lines should be drawn. What is acceptable and what is not?”
Comment
For a long time we at Digital-Lifestyles have been aware of the creeping nature of the loss of privacy in the UK, with our concern extending well before the so called “war on terror.” Since this “war,” the erosion increased exponentially in the name of “protecting” us.
It’s hugely refreshing that someone employed by the government – The information commissioner – has released this information. It must be a pretty serious state of affairs. What’s needed now is some real debate to take place (something increasingly rare in the UK in our view), with all points of view given equal prominence. Let’s get away from this ridiculous view that if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Privacy International
2 November, 2006
Pure EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition Released. Let’s Rock!
DAB radio pioneers, Pure Technologies, have released information about a forthcoming DAB radio, styled as a Marshall Amp.
To rockers and heavy metal fans alike Marshall Amps rule, so this is likely to appeal to head banger who remember the days of AC/DC when an adult dressing up as a school boy was actively encouraged.
EVOKE-1XT Marshall Edition is wrapped in black vinyl, just like a Marshall amp, with solid wood construction, brass-effect control panel and a black metallic speaker grille.
Pure tell us that it has a bass reflex port for enhanced bass performance alongside a custom designed 3″ drive unit and active-filters to provide a natural ‘direct-from-the-studio’ sound. Let’s Rock!
You to can fool yourself that you’ve turned your bathroom into the Monster of Rock playing Donnington by buying this beauty.
Pure clearly have a sense of humour as the volume goes up to 11 (tm Spinal Tap).
It’s going to sell for 1p under £100.
Pure
2 November, 2006
No Protection For Online Gambling Bosses: Caborn
UK sports minister, Richard Caborn, has said that Britain would not protect online gaming executives from extradition requests if they took Internet bets from countries in which they were illegal. These won’t be welcome words to the people running the gambling companies, who have already taken a hit with the arrest of two execs in the US earlier this year.
Caborn was speaking at a summit, ironically held at the Ascot horse racing course in Berkshire, discussing and agreeing a draft framework of regulation to protect consumers and prevent underage gambling and gambling addiction.
“We now have in place a road map that will lead to better regulated remote gambling across the world,” he said.
It’s been reported that Caborn has plans to make Britain a “world leader” in Internet gambling, when internal Whitehall documents were leaked around the start of October.
(via Reuters)
1 November, 2006