The right headset for business

In a regular office setting, headsets are often the ignored electronic device since everyone could just use the phone or use IM (instant messenger) to get in touch with an individual. But as technology is advancing and communication is getting easier with lesser cost, the use of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is gaining in importance. Since communication with the client is vital, a good headset should be in place to ensure client's loyalty as well as ease of acquiring new business partners.

Quality = Pricing

Quality headsets unfortunately, doesn't come cheap. Headsets with noise cancellation ability and better microphones will cost you. But this is just a small investment if you want to ensure that communication with your client is possible without interruption. You don't want your client to ask you to repeat what you said because the headsets are not working properly. You can't just blame technology if you lose your client.

Wireless vs. Wired

Wireless is always a good thing as this will lessen clutter in your workspace. But they are not the ideal headset. Wireless devices may save you from clutter but you become susceptible to other signals which could scramble the voice quality. If everyone is using wireless headsets, the possibility of signal scrambling especially if you are on a limited space is always there.

Single vs. Dual Ear

Although there are single ear headsets, it is highly recommended to have dual ear headsets. Aside from clarity, dual ear headsets will also prevent ear damage since noise and volume will be evenly distributed to both ears.

Bluetooth tips for businesses

Businesses should always find a way of boosting productivity through technology. Although humans can still improve in their productivity, technology will ease some of their tasks which will make them concentrate on more important functions. One of those technologies that should be harnessed by businesses is Bluetooth - a wireless data transfer protocol that will ease communication and other functions.

Most see Bluetooth as a device used mainly for mobile phone headsets. While Bluetooth is undoubtedly popular as a wireless headset device, there are other users for Bluetooth that has been proven efficient for businesses.

Ease in File Transfer

File transfer could always be done online or through LAN (Local Area Network) but when LAN is not available and data transfer online is very expensive. Bluetooth could become the protocol of choice. Bluetooth devices could transfer files without any problem. This is ideal when you are on the road and you need to transfer or receive files from a client or a business partner.

Access to Other Devices

Aside from using Bluetooth for file transfer, the device could also be used to connect to other devices without any cord. For example, you can have wireless keyboards and headsets in your computer for VOIP with the use of Bluetooth.

Security Concerns and Limitations

On the other hand, there are limitations that should be tackled constantly by Bluetooth users. The maximum transfer rate of Bluetooth is only at 1Mbps which is significantly lower. Bluetooth based attacks such as anonymous sending of documents with viruses should also be a point of concern. But these could be addressed as long as the user is conscious of other users and limiting access to recognized devices only.

The importance of web pages in business

Every company should need a good looking website. Your website is your face to the world and anything wrong with it will be criticized.

This is a little bit harsh for small businesses considering they are basically using free services in their websites (such as hosting) to properly inform their customers of what they do. They are practically saving money when they opt to use free tools and services on their websites.

But those who use free website hosting for their company are actually losing a lot more than saving. There are companies that offer web hosting for as little as $10 a month. For that amount, you can develop a good website and earn clients.

When you use paid web hosting, you will also have the advantage of having your domain. Companies or clients that want to work with you could easily remember your website. For example, a client will find it hard to remember a website named ultimatecleaners.multiply.com. But when you’re using only ultimatecleaners.com, your client can just type it in without having to remember the multiply part.

A free website is good for a personal blog or a personal website wherein you can share some pictures or updates. But a company, no matter how small it is, should always consider paid services for its website.

Linux OS: the ups and downs

Because of the disaster of Vista OS and the popularity of UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computers), Linux has been placed in a spotlight like never before. Different versions of Linux are being released and they offer the freedom of selecting the experience that you want for your computers and laptops.

If you are looking to slash costs in your business, you should consider using Linux as your OS in your computers. Linux will provide you Operating System and supporting applications that you need without having to shell out a single cent. Using Windows as an operating system in your computers is great in terms compatibility but every installation in a local gadget will cost you at least $300 for standard configuration and applications (Windows OS and Microsoft Office). A small business could be saving thousands of dollars if they use Linux as an OS.

Security is also optimal in Linux. Most of the viruses and spyware today are OS specific which means attacks are usually geared towards Windows computers. In fact, if you think there are viruses in your flash drives or any removable storage device, you just have to plug it in to a Linux based computer and open it. All the viruses will be gone and your storage device is as good as new.

The downside of Linux is that it will require more than just simple familiarity of computers. You need to have an expert so that your computer will be properly configured according to your need. Networking is also a little bit challenging as you need more than just simple networking configuration.

Linux has its ups and downs. Just make sure you have enough knowledge to handle this particular type of OS to ensure success.

BlackBerry Storm to compete with iPhone 3G

Almost every six months, something new from the mobile world comes out to challenge the powerful iPhone 3G. A few months ago, specs on the upcoming Nokia 5800 XpressMusic were released and different reviews from the actual usage were released in no time. The verdict: it’s good but it’s still not here.

On the other hand, the Blackberry Storm was just released and early reviews have been impressive that most have come to say that it’s a possible iPhone crusher. Available in US through Verizon and Vodafone in Europe, Blackberry Storm has something no other phone has: ClickThrough technology. This technology senses the pressure of the fingers and reacts accordingly – too light and it will just browse through and click is implemented with a little additional pressure. It also has a very impressive multimedia feature which includes 3.2 megapixel camera, support for a slew of video formats (including H.264) and ability to work in both GSM and CDMA.

If there’s one thing lacking in Blackberry Storm, it’s Wifi. This is a little bit unfortunate since Storm has such features that could easily stump the iPhone 3G. Without the Wifi, everything else seemed to be a lot difficult since you are not able to browse through the internet. Aside from the lack of Wifi, the Blackberry Storm is currently priced at $199 after the mail in rebates from Verizon – the same as the 8GB version of the iPhone 3G.

Although it might not knock out iPhone 3G, it still packs a powerful punch with its multimedia features and ability to handle GSM and CDMA (which makes unlocking a great possibility).

Soccer nets on the network

Soccergoalzinc.com is an online store dedicated to goals for soccer and hockey. Different types of goals and soccer nets – from standard to kids’ rebound goal could be purchased from this website. Their prices are competitive and they are also heavy duty because of very sturdy materials included in the frame. They offer flat rate shipping for any type of goals which will give any customer especially those who are ordering the standard-sized goals, great savings.

But aside from goals that offer savings with high quality, the website offers actual pictures of the things they are selling. Most online stores provide processed pictures of their products but Soccergoalzinc.com offers something more. Most of the products on the website are photographed with users. You will see kids and adults playing in front of the soccer goals. These pictures of Soccer Nets give the buyer a good idea of the size and look of the goal.

The layout of the website is very simple that first time users could easily navigate through the pages. The information on each product is also very impressive as the size and as well as features of the goal is included. Check out their resources page as the website provides additional information on the goals and websites where you can find more sports equipment.

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Internet ad business increased despite economy

Internet advertising posted double digit growth for the third quarter this year. A growth of 11% was posted from the reports of Interactive Advertising Bureau. This double digit increase is significantly high given the global economy is fearing for a massive recession. This increase was compared to the third quarter performance last year.

Internet advertising posted total earnings of $5.9 billion this quarter. Not only this increase is significant compared to last year, this growth is also the second highest since the Interactive Advertising Bureau was established in 1996. The total revenue this year until the third quarter was reportedly at $17.3 billion. The figure represent an increase of a whopping 14% when compared to last year's revenues which was only $15.2 billion. Internet advertising has continued to face the challenges of tough economic times. Businesses and large corporations have realized that efficiency of internet advertising as it virtually knows no bounds. Internet advertising is also cost effective as companies could present a lot of data and information online without having to spend too much on production costs.

This data also presents a slow shift from traditional advertising to online advertising. As countries with established economies are quickly adopting digital services, online advertising is seen as a rising business and there are no indicators that it will die down considerably even with the tough economic times. The Internet Advertising Bureau is part of the New Media Group - a company owned by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Their data is considered the most credible for online advertising today.

Time and money in online business world

One of the most fundamental equations in physics relates energy and matter. It was created by Einstein and it basically says that matter and energy are interchangeable. You can have one or the other. If we borrow this equation and use it in the world of online business it still makes sense only matter and energy are replaced by money and time respectively.

This is simply a fancy way of saying that money and time tend to be interchangeable in the world of online business. You can spend time doing a particular task or you can spend money getting someone else to do the same task for you so that you can spend your time on something else. A good example of this is advertising. There are many free methods of advertising such as article and blog marketing that are just as effective over the long term as paid methods of advertising but the catch is that they tend to require a lot of time to pull off. Something like pay per click advertising on the other hand is very effective and takes practically no time at all to set up but at the same time requires a monetary investment.

Whenever you are figuring out tasks for your online business, you should be thinking not only in terms of time and money but also in terms of where the two can be interchanged. You can meet all of your goals for the month in your business even if you are short in one of the two just by increasing the amount of the other you invest into the system. Can't afford all your advertising goals? Spend some time doing free advertising instead.

Bleak future for Windows Vista

As soon as Vista came out as the next big OS of Microsoft Corporation, reviews from tech bloggers and regular users were available online and most of them are never satisfied with the latest offering of Microsoft. Even with the hyped commercials featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld didn’t helped at all. Microsoft even played “dirty” by renaming the OS as “Mojave” but the rose by any name would still smell as sweet. These actions didn’t help to meet the expected sales for the first quarter.

Some would blame the popularity of netbooks – smaller laptops that sacrifice specs and real estate on screen for portability. Since the processors and RAMs are relatively smaller, Vista would have a hard time running in these smaller devices. The increasing popularity of Linux and the chic (with high security) appeal for Mac has also placed a dent on Vista.

But tech bloggers pointed out that the main reason why Vista’s sales didn’t improve as expected is the non-adoption of businesses. XP has been in the market for years now and its relevance to modern computing is still there. Aside from the business perspective, adoption for regular XP users tends to be expensive. Although Vista has come out with SP2 to fix different bugs, it may be too late for Vista to gain momentum in sales.

Seeing the sales of Vista, Microsoft may have raised their white flag on the latest OS. Windows 7 is currently being hyped by Microsoft and early Alpha release will be available for developers soon.

Online business - handle with care

The current economic situation has really created problems for many online businesses. With money being at an all-time low for many of the people in the developed areas of the world, families and individuals are being forced to cut down on many costs. One of the costs is of course supplementary purchases and for the most part if you run an online business then you are in the business of selling supplementary items in one form or another. Therefore the downturn has likely affected you as well but there are steps you can take to make sure your online business is able to weather the downturn with a satisfactory end result.

The first thing you should do is try to cut down on your business expenses as much as possible. This means that you might consider downgrading your hosting plans to more affordable options that still get the job done while at the same time cutting down on advertising methods that cost you money. Instead of PPC advertising maybe you should do extra article marketing as the latter is free. That is just one example of many in ways to reduce your expenses without significantly cutting down on your inflows and it is solutions like that which ultimately help businesses weather tough economic periods.

Expansion into other free areas of marketing is another option you might consider but you need to be very careful about how you go about it in order to ensure that you do not become overextended. Overextension is the enemy of the online business and in the end it is a mistake that could prove fatal.

Online casinos: a safe way to play

I always considered online games safer than real life ones. Maybe because all I ever lost when playing was virtual money or some points. And of course I closed the page before becoming addicted to it. However, I like to live an “adventurous” life every now and then, so gambling web pages with free games are the right place. No need to travel or no need to fight for a machine with another person. Anyway, if you want to play with real money you can also do that online and choose poker, baccarat or any other game you would find in a real casino. There are also guides for beginners which will try to answer all your questions about online casinos, so that you can play safely.

Personally I prefer the free slots because they don’t require any strategy or sunglasses to be cool in front of your opponents. There are also few rules to obey and the machine will do the maths for you. You click the handle, the things start spinning and you see what you’ve got. You might even win and that will top up your balance and allow playing more.
We are living hard times. Maybe your budget is tight or insufficient for entertainment, so why not choose the online free alternative? You will find a slot game you’ll like to play at www.casino.de.

BT: Break Time

In London, if the need to communicate strikes you, better use the traditional ways: smoke signs, mural painting, envelopes sent through pigeons or mounted messengers. Forget about telephone, internet, fax or any other modern means of communication.

Forget about BT, mainly. Because BT forgets about you. Or they don’t even know you exist even if you have called them to ask for someone to come and install the telephone landline.

They say they will come next week, but there are so many future weeks in your life if you have an optimistic approach on it. If you are lucky you get someone coming later than agreed, do half the job then leave you with hope in your heart and a small hole in your wall. And then you have to call again and beg for someone to be sent and finish the work and give you the telephone line you want.

If their excuse is they don’t have enough staff, there are so many Eastern European boys out there looking for jobs and willing to pull some cables to make customers happy.

Unlock your phone, avoid the scams

I recently put my cell phone in the washing machine. I know, not a clever move but it was late, I was tired and I had too many pockets. So when I put my clothes out to dry the next day, I discovered my brand new Sony Ericsson would do nothing but vibrate. Thankfully, my girlfriend at the time had just received a new phone which she didn't need and let me keep hers. But that is only where my troubles started.

I tried using my card in it (which surprisingly still worked) but the phone was from a different provider so it would not read the card. So started my quest to unlock my telephone. I tried various shops around my neighbourhood, but the prices were ridiculously high because the phone was new. I tried at least 5 different places, they all said they could do it. Two of them did not even have the necessary codes and the other three wanted me to pay around a third of the telephone's actual price.

So I turned to the Internet. I tried various websites that gave out free codes, but of course their resources are limited so I could not find what I needed. Then I checked out sites where you pay and they provide you with a code to unlock your phone, but a few minutes of research later I realised the number of scams people are running involving this service. All I wanted was to simply type "unlock cell phone" and get a result, but things are never that simple.

Or are they? I was recently given the above link by a friend to a website that unlocks cell phones. Unlocktotalk.com is a guaranteed service that will unlock your phone and you can be sure you are avoiding scams as it is an established business. They have a very well organised site that is easy to navigate and get you to the code you need for your model telephone. What impressed me the most with them is the fact that if you have fallen victim to a scam and you email them the receipt sent to you by that website, they give you a 25% discount. So you can either wait a few months for the shop round the corner to get the codes and unlock your phone, or you can stay one step ahead of the game.

Tesco goes into banking

You know how on Saturdays you get up slightly earlier than you would on a Sunday to go out and do your weekly shop, buy some things for the house, maybe pop into the bank, perhaps pay in some money or withdraw some for the weekend, check your balance, maybe set up a standing order, get the newspaper, and fill up the car on the way back? Well at least it will be a far shorter journey from one service to the next.

Tesco is poised to buy the 50% stake that the Royal Bank of Scotland holds in Tesco's personal finance branch for £950 million, thus making the business wholly owned by the supermarket mammoth, so that it may develop its existing services, such as insurance (car, home, personal), and add new services, such as current accounts. They will also intensify their marketing campaigns for these services, in order to become a worthwhile competitor to other banks on the high street.

Even though Tesco has had insurance services for while now, it still only holds a small percentage of the market in that service. The supermarket company now hopes to improve their stake in the market by hiring former RBS execs to be on the board. It is strange that the same place where I bought half a kilo of Turkey breast fillet last night, at a reduced price of 90 pence I must add, will now also be able to arrange for my rent payments. Not necessarily a bad thing (although I can't really see an upside either) but definitely strange. Like a huge sort of creature that mutates,engulfs and incorporates what grows around it.

I'm dying to run into someone 15 years from now who runs a finance department but who started off in the frozen food section.

Internet piracy approaching the end?

I hope you are as lucky as I am to have caught the Knock Off Neville advertisement. For those of you who are not lucky enough to have seen it, it's a silly attempt by some ad exec to make downloading uncool, but so enjoyable to watch in its ineffective unrealistic childishness. They might as well go and pull file sharers' hair. Although I find this approach sophomoric to say the least, it does not detract from the fact that illegally downloading film and music is a grave concern to the media industry. But a new approach that I must say may be much more effective has been found.

In a plan agreed between the UK's largest Internet Service Providers and the government, persistent music sharers will start to receive letters warning them to stop illegally downloading and sharing music or face lowered bandwidth. As Internet speeds have increased over the last decade and MP3s are the most popular way of listening to music, the circulation of "ripped" CDs through file sharing networks has increased exponentially.

Virgin, BT, Tiscali, Orange, Carphone Warehouse and BSkyB have all signed up in order to warn their subscribers to desist from sharing music illegally. Initially, the companies will send letters to their users with high records of downloading. If the users continue despite the warnings, their speeds will be limited, thus making it extremely time consuming to do anything on the web while downloading large files.

The reason I find this will be the most effective is because of some of the characteristics of filesharing culture. I have known people in the past that were prolific filesharers. As a teenager I was Internet illiterate, but I had friends that were on the forefront of downloading music, either through networks such as Napster or by person to person filesharing done through chatrooms. It seemed strange to me that they exchanged so much music. Hundreds of records went back and forth. The numbers were so high that it was impossible for them to hear all the music they had received. But in many cases it was not a question of listening to a record from a band they liked, it was just collecting. It was, and probably still is, a fetishistic collection of music, to a certain degree.

This is why I find the "slow down" approach so clever. It may be fun for them to download music and they may ignore the letters sent to them, however when checking their email becomes as time consuming as it did when 56kbps was the fastest you could go, and they have to leave their pc on overnight to load a page with several high quality photos on it, the fetishism will give way to practicality. The plan has also attracted the attention of the Motion Picture Association of America, which has also been losing money through the circulation of their films on line.

So perhaps the end of free circulation of copywrited information on the Internet is approaching. With many companies now seeling filesharing services it is obvious that pressure would be put on those who offer the same services for free. But we will have to wait and see what happens.

Apple sales soar, problems loom

It seems as though other mobile telephones have ceased to exist since the advent of the iPhone. You could have the newest, most hi tech, up to date phone, and you would still not be the coolest one in the room if there was anyone with an iPhone.

So what could possibly be wrong? What with a 41% increase in sales everything should be fine and dandy at Apple. And yet, problems seem to be looming, problems concerning MobileMe, their service that synchronises all your Mac devices. Basically it stores all your contacts, emails, etc. in an online server - a "cloud" - and then forwards the information to your Mac computer, iPhone and iPod so you can have the same updated information on all machines.

Or at least that was the plan. What has really happened is that a number of features that were advertised in connection with this product don't work exactly as planned. As of last week the HomePage application could not be accessed and certain users were also facing problems with Me.com, which stopped them from accessing their mail.

Also, the "push" technology that forwards information updates to your other devices does not do so immediately, but rather synchronises devices up every 15 minutes. There has also been a delay in the introduction of iDisk File Sharing, but Apple has come out and apologized for some these delays.

But that is where the statements end, and there is something more, something that adds insult to injury, and that is the fact that customers who signed on for a trial account have been charged the full membership fee, according to claims made last week .

So not all going exactly as planned then... but for some strange reason I feel confident that they will repair all these problems quickly and will get back on track. I don't know exactly why I feel so confident, it might be because all my other Mac gear has always worked fine. Still, I'm going to wait a while before I join the cool iPhone crowd.

Yahoo survives by the skin of its teeth

I've been observing Yahoo's situation over the last few weeks and joked like many others I'm sure, that it should be renamed "Yahoo?". In my last post on the subject, several execs had already abandoned ship with more poised to take the plunge. Then deals failed with Microsoft after Yahoo turned down a buy out offer, then went back to that offer which had been taken of the table, and rejected a new offer from Microsoft to buy only their search branch. Complicated, I know.

Even though the deal Yahoo finally agreed on made them more money than selling their search branch to Microsoft would have, shareholders were not happy and stock started to drop in value. That is around the time that Mr. Icahn, who holds 5% of Yahoo's stock, started his campaign to have the entire board replaced with his own nominees at the shareholder's meeting in August. If that plan had gone through, parts of Yahoo would probably have been sold off to Microsoft, however the company managed to defuse the situation by agreeing to appoint Mr. Icahn and two of his nominees to the board.

Thankfully for Yahoo, Mr. Icahn was unable to convince other major shareholders that there was no other option than to sell, so there is no immediate plan for a deal with Microsoft. The main point of conflict was the amounts Microsoft was prepared to pay for Yahoo or just their search branch, which led Yahoo to striking a deal for a new kind of search engine with Powerset.

With the shareholders' meeting just round the corner, it seems that Yahoo will pull through this one and remain under the same leadership for the time being...

Google beats Microsoft, Mercedes and BBC in the UK

Well things seem to be turning up for Google. It has just come in first in a poll of brands preferred in the UK, it has managed to save our private information in the lawsuit against it by Viacom, and it has recorded 35% rise in profits this second quarter, even though their prediction was slightly higher.

Some are disappointed with Google not hitting their target profit, but a 35% profit increase is not to be laughed at. Neither is the fact that the company has managed to bump Microsoft and Mercedes out of the top two positions in the top consumer brands poll, according to the BBC. The same source reports that Google also came top of a superbrands poll in the beginning of the year, taking the place of the BBC itself, and I can't say I'm surprised.

With UK consumers spending £26.5 billion online in the first six months of 2008, it would make sense for one of the best search engines out there to make a tidy profit, even if it is not as high as they predicted. Apparently, the rise in the cost of food, fuel and the cost of living in general is nudging people towards doing their shopping from home, on the computer. And to do any of that, you first need to search for what you will buy.

Just take a step back and you will see why Google is so popular. It plays an integral part of our lives, in almost all sectors, personal and professional. It sometimes seems that Google has become synonymous with the Internet itself. Will Microsoft's attempt to improve its own search engine help it catch up? Will Viacom's lawsuit damage Google?

New Tomb Raider "Underworld" out in November

I was not a fan of the first Tomb Raider. For some strange reason I did not find the gameplay appealing and the amount of times you had to go through the same stage to get it right made it seem like more of a chore. However, all that changed when I played the most recent instalment of the game which was atmospheric and very exciting. However, I am strictly a PC gamer and all the fancy new controls make it impossible for me to play anything that complex. But I do love to watch others play.

So I am hoping that my ex-flatmate gets the new Tomb Raider, Underworld, which is due for release in November (18th for the US, 21st overseas). Having checked out trailers and TV spots on the game it looks incredible. The design team has used a combination of new lighting and shading technologies, in combination with some old school technologies just for shading, giving the game the quality of an old film.

These stunning visual designs are put to good use in the new environments that have been created for the game which takes you deeper and deeper underground. The game kicks off in the middle of the Mediterranean sea where Lara is looking for some underwater ruins while battling sharks (use the sticky grenade), and as she continues on her quest has to follow underground passageways through ruins, where natural predators give way to supernatural guardians.

Some of the monsters are enormous and extremely well designed in all details. Lara will also be able to fight them using her new moves that allow her to fire at two different targets with her two guns simultaneously and to even use melee attacks while firing if she is surrounded by several creatures. There are also brand new moves for Lara to be able to traverse through the environments, ant they look like they were taken out of an Olympic gymnastics set.

The game looks seriously good and designers claim that gameplay is challenging but not punishing. I know that there are Lara fans out there pre-ordering as we speak. Retailers are sure to run out quickly, but you can save yourself the wait in the queue and just pre-order from HMV, Play.com, or Tesco. There is also a selection of clips on YouTube that feature gameplay and trailers for the game.

Amazon and Sony Bravia HD online video rental

A few weeks ago we heard that Sony was trying to reclaim a portion of the market that it had not paid enough attention to, software. The electronics giant is the largest electronic goods producer in the world, but was losing out on very large profits seeing as customers were using their equipment with other companies' software. And Sony announced that the new Sony Bravia HD would include an online rental store on their TV sets. This plan will soon come to fruition with a deal between Sony and Amazon for an online video rental and sale scheme.

The New York Times reported that Amazon.com's video rental service, which will allow customers to start watching around 40,000 films and TV programs, will launch soon. However, the main difference between this and other online rental stores is that the customers will not need to wait for files to download to their computer, rather they will stream the videos online. Apparently, films and shows from most major companies and networks will be available on this service, however films and shows from ABC and Disney will not be available due to the company's close ties with Apple, whose iTunes store will be one of the major competitors to this new online store.

I dream of getting a Sony Bravia HD. I really do, a screen so big that it will force me to move the sofa all the way to the other side of the room. It's a bit pricey for me now (but not as expensive as it used to be), but hopefully I will be able to get one soon, maybe after the credit crunch. And if I invest in a such a luxury piece of equipment, I might as well order a couple of impressive films that I do not own and watch them on an enormous HD screen.

Viacom and YouTube agreement reached

I was upset a couple of weeks ago when I found out about Viacom's victory in their litigation case against Google, specifically concerning their subsidiary YouTube. Viacom's win in the courtroom meant that Google had been ordered to hand over all the information on all the users of YouTube, because an estimated 160,000 clips that infringed the media giant's copyright had been viewed 1.5 billion times.

However, privacy protection groups around the world were outraged by what they considered to be an invasion of privacy, as Google would have to hand over IP addresses and personal YouTube account information on all of their users.

Thankfully, an agreement has been reached that will protect Viacom's interests, while at the same time will keep our personal information out of their databases. In negotiations between the two companies a deal was struck for Google to indeed hand over the information required by Viacom, but they are to remove user names and IP addresses.

But is the $1 billion lawsuit enough to break YouTube, and if so is the Viacom giant about to swallow another media company? Our names may not be in a database, but we may see one of the greatest user content driven sites become another advertisement playground, where watching a clip on squirrel catapults will also require me to see what's on MTV or Comedy Central, or what film is being released next month by Paramount and Dreamworks. Before you know it, we might even have to pay for it, and free Internet services, such as Skype, is what makes the Interent such a wonderful place.

McAfee tests Spam activity in UK

Very much in the path of Morgan Spurlock in the “Super Size Me” documentary about an exclusive McDonald’s diet and Giles Coren and Sue Perkins in the recent “The Supersizers Go...”, anti-virus developer McAfee gathered up a number of volunteers from ten countries to play the role of internet un-savvy guinea pigs in a pioneering experiment around spam emails for 30 days.

The parameters of the experiment would include a brand new laptop with a basic McAfee anti-virus software given to the 50 participants instructed to browse the net to their liking. For documentation purposes, all participants were requested to create and daily update an online diary so as to record their experiences and thoughts as the experiment progressed. In the end the overall impact of spam would be evident, countable and easily shared with the rest of the world.

Eventually by the end of the 30-day experiment the 50 participants, who in the end of the experiment got to keep the infected laptops as a reward for their hassle, shared 104,000 unsolicited messages - more than 70 a day each. That not being the worst effect, they witnessed their laptops’ day-by-day degradation followed by numerous crashes.

YouTube viewers' habits to be given to Viacom

In a ruling that many view as an unofficial infringement of online privacy rights, a US court has ruled that Google is to reveal the viewing habits of any of their users who have ever watched a video on YouTube. This court case was an ongoing battle between Google and Viacom regarding a number of clips on YouTube which Viacom considers are massive copyright infringement.

Therefore, Google will have to provide the login details and the IP addresses of all its users. So more than 12 terabytes of information will be turned over after an estimated 1.5 billion views were recorded on material Viacom holds a copyright on.

It is somewhat shocking that a media company will now know what millions of people around the world have watched and what they tend to watch. I know very few people who have not seen a clip that should not have been uploaded to begin with, but YouTube had introduced a filtering tool after Viacom's initial concerns had been expressed, in an attempt to limit the number of clips that should not legally be there.

My main fear is what will happen to YouTube after it is proven that people uploaded and watched copyrighted material. If further action is taken by Viacom we will see a site that has been somewhat independent and a platform for users to express themselves, bought out and become part of a media behemoth. Not to mention the number of additional advertisements that will appear.

Seeing as YouTube recognised its mistake and introduced filtering systems, do you think it is right that our viewing habits and other personal infomartion will become property of Viacom?

Diablo 3 looks impressive

I remember spending summer afternoons geeking out with my brother in front of the PC, slaughtering demons and what not to an ecclesiastic soundtrack. It was 1996, and Diablo was one of the best games of the year. It was a bit difficult to explain the pentagram on the box to my nan, so I just hid it. It's been more than a decade and my flatmate still plays Diablo 2, so it was through him that I heard of the amazing news that Blizzard has announced the upcoming release of Diablo 3. No exact date has been set for the game yet, however there is a lot of info on the new features. Game designers for Blizzard have said that the game will be ready when it is perfect.

The Barbarian will still be featured as one of the character classes players can choose, while some of the old favourite moves have been retained. A new character will also be introduced, the Witch Doctor, with special moves that control his enemies' minds and summon pets to help him stay out of harm's way. The characters come in either male or female a very politically correct move on Blizzard's part.

But the most impressive feature of the game has to be the interractive environment, which allows you to tear down walls or blow up tables and doors. In their gameplay video one can see a wall being torn down to completely obliterate a group of zombies.

Gameplay has been simplified to the point where one can play the game with only the mouse, although veteran Diablo players will prefer the mouse keyboard combination. The game's graphics designers have not gone for a hyper realist approach, but rather kept a more retro fun design for the game.

It is a welcome game by all us PC gamers who feel left behind in the advent of games consoles with complicated gamepads. Once again I can use my incredible typing and mouse skills to dispatch demons. I think my social life will suffer...

Microsoft trying to catch up with Google through Powerset

It must have been somewhat embarassing for the behemoth that is Microsoft to get turned down twice by Yahoo in the whole search engine debacle. Even though the results were mixed for Yahoo (they made more money than they would have done if they had signed with Microsoft but are in danger of being sued by their shareholders and execs are migrating away from the company), Microsoft now has to find a new way to update its Internet searching capabilities, and hopes it has done so through a new deal struck with Powerset.

Now Powerset is developing a whole new way to search the web using semantic web technology. Well, you still type in words and it gives you results, however the search engine looks for the words in their logical context, thus providing more accurate results in relation to what the user wants to find. According to Businessweek, this type of search is more useful to users looking for more detailed results in categories where there are many websites with the same keywords, and in that sense perform better than Google. The word is that this new technology has impressed Microsoft enough to offer $100 million for it, a fraction of what they were prepared to pay Yahoo and got turned down.

So this new technology, albeit very complex and costly to develop, could be just the ticket for Microsoft to catch up in the Internet search department which Google dominates at the moment. They have enough money left over from the deal that didn't go through. Lets see if they make it back to the top...

Ebay fined over fake goods

Ebay has been ordered to pay 40 million euro by a French court, after it failed to stop transactions on fake "brand" products through its website. The companies are part of the LVMH group, which includes Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Givenchy. The group is suing both for the auctioning of fake luggage and handbags, as well as for the sale of perfumes. There are some more significant concerns as far as the perfumes are concerned, because only authorised retailers are allowed to sell the products. One of the reasons is that perfume can cause allergies or irritation if tampered with, a practice often carried out by street sellers, who mix perfumes and reseal them.

LVMH were satisfied with the decision of the court to fine Ebay and to ban them from allowing any more perfume transactions on their website, as they consider these companies an important part of French business heritage.

However, Ebay spokespersons are not pleased with the ruling, saying that the case was more about LVMH trying to protect its uncompetitive commercial practices, rather than getting rid of counterfeits, an effort that Ebay makes anyway, removing fake copies as soon as they find them on their site. It's a tough decision against Ebay, the second in less than a month.

But should Ebay really be the one fined or should it be the individuals carrying out the sales?

Cable TV targetted ads criticised

US cable television companies are facing criticism after plans to share their customers' viewing habits, in order to tempt advertising money through ads that will be more specific to each viewer. This is not a new technique in any way, it is used on the Internet where depending on user searches, websites visited or location, specific ads are shown which are more likely to be relevant to the user.

There is a question of privacy rules being breached by Comcast, Time Warner and several other companies who want to go ahead with this plan, especially if one takes into account the fact that Google and Facebook have been criticised on the exact same issue. If the same technique is used by cable television providers they will essentially be sharing subscriber information, an act prohibited by federal law in the US. Nonetheless, the companies planning on using this new wave of advertisement have said that they will adhere to the laws in place.

This targetted advertisement could be a very powerful tool indeed, as cable viewers would only see advertisements that interest them (i.e. National Geographic subscriptions for people that watch nature documentaries), a very tempting perspective for advertisement companies. But is this sharing of information a step too far?

Sony vows to turn a profit in TV and games

Sony has pledged that this fiscal year they will turn a profit in their TV and video games branch by giving almost all of its electronic products wireless Internet connectivity capabilities by 2011. This move is a revival of Sony after a bad few years that saw it shut down factories, donwnsize categories and cut thousands of jobs around the world.

Sony wants the software and connectivity that should go with its hardware, such as Playstation and the Bravia television set. As regards the Bravia model, the company claims that they will be able to provide films and television shows directly to the consumers' sets, without the use of cable or satellite TV. This capability will also be offered to the PS3.

This move is long awaited by Sony itself, which saw its competitors leave it far behind even though their hardware is the most widely used in the world. At last, they will be able to provide the software and networking capabilities that a company of their caliber should, and start catching up with their competitors, through immense investments in research and development of these technologies.

Visa invests in Facebook

One of the world's largest credit card companies, Visa, will pay social networking megasite Facebook £1 million for the promotion of its small business service to their users. The first 20,000 businesses in the US to download Visa's services via Facebook will receive $100 in advertising credit.

Visa is trying to take advantage of Facebook's 80 million global audience and help small firms run more efficiently with the online branch of their service. There are approximately 80,000 small online businesses with Facebook profiles, surely to be followed by many more, and there are hundreds of programmes that have been created especially for the entertainment of the social networking website users, however most of these programmes (photosharing, film interest comparisons, etc.) are free, with no profit to be made for anyone.

Nonetheless, Visa and Facebook are hoping that at least some of these companies will be able to use the social networking website for online marketing and will turn a profit from it at some point in the future.

Helping with your college admission essay

I've always enjoyed writing, that's probably why I started blogging back in 1999. However, going through university, writing essays is a different matter. And even there, if you are studying something you are interested essays should be enjoyable.

However, what do you do if you need to write an essay about yourself, your experiences, your abilities, without sounding conceited or full of yourself, while at the same time creating a piece of work that will set you apart from the crowd and grab the attention of the examiner choosing whether you are the right candidate for their university?

When writing a college admission essay it is no longer really about your own style, it is rather about setting your work apart from everyone else's. That's where www.admissionessays.com comes in. You give the website your information and your experience, in general what you want included in your essay, and they send back a model that you can follow and make your essay unique and inspiring.

In fact, they will even send you different introductions to your essay so that you can choose or mix elements from the two and will offer you discounts if you require more than one essay (different colleges and universities look for different things after all). They deliver work within 5 working days and have various services depending on what studies you want to follow (Law, Business, Graduate School, Medicine).

Domain name laws to be relaxed

A change like nothing before may be on its way for the Internet, as discussions are being held about the laws and regulations governing domain names. Specifically, the discussions are about top level domain names (.com, .net, .org, etc.) and if the plans are approved it could allow companies to use their own name as the domain itself.

Efforts have been made over the last 3 years by Icann, the main Internet domain regulatory body, to relax the laws governing domain names. Apart from web address endings changing, there could also be drastic changes to the characters used for the addresses themselves, allowing different countries to use their own language's characters.

Essentially, this is freedom for everyone who wants to take over a small part of the internet for themselves. The number of names that can be used will rise by thousands over the next few years if the plans are approved.

"Yahoo!" turning into "Yahoo?"

There have been numerous reports over the past few days about executives in Yahoo! resigning and moving to new companies and the possibility of lawsuits from upsed shareholders, after the Microsoft deal fell through, and Yahoo! ended up going with Google. It may be that these events, the resignations and the lawsuits, go hand in hand, as the execs are trying to get out before the ship sinks.

TechCrunch has published a list of executives who have resigned, but before clicking on the link make sure you have a fresh cup of coffee as the >list is long. About 50 executives have quit Yahoo since January last year, more than 10 in the last 2 months. Even though the current deal with Google is more profitable than the offer made by Microsoft, many investors were disappointed with the decision.

YouTube videos to get longer and longer

YouTube has had longer videos in their content for more than a year now. There are usually two ways of doing this. Somehow uploading a video that lasts for an hour and a half all in one go, which would take you a while, or uploading it in segments. I have watched a number of documentaries that way, and although I sat through the whole thing, it wasn't the most pleasant way of watching anything.

Apparently, YouTube are going to make some sort of big announcement at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival this week, according to CNN Money. The same source indicates that they are fishing for up and coming directors for some sort of deal, and are stressing how certain directors of videos on their website have gone on to strike deals with studios.

However, YouTube is neither the first video website to upload full length videos, nor the first site to host the video of someone that later became famous. Stage 6 was very popular for a short period of time for full length videos, with documentaries and interviews from the 70's to the 00's, and its content, to begin with, was incredible. However, more users joined in and uploaded their videos, Stage 6 turned more and more into a big repetitive mess and it became harder and harder to find videos.

The most important consequence of millions of people uploading full length content and the main reason that Stage 6 closed, is the cost of storing all these millions of clips and dealing with whether or not they are allowed online.

Good luck to YouTube and more power to them for trying this, but I hope they have called DivX up and asked what went wrong with Stage 6 before starting.

Adobe sales boosted by overseas markets

Profits for the world's biggest design software developer, Adobe, have increased by 41% in the second quarter of 2008, thanks to demand for their products (Acrobat, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.) in Europe and Asia.

Nevertheless, stockholders were not pleased with the profit outlook and Adobe shares dropped by between 2.5%-3.1%. Despite the 45 cents per share increase forecast by the company, the shareholders were looking for more.

Adobe is now looking to South America, Eastern Europe and China for new markets as the US economy slows down. According to statements by top officials within the company, there is no way of knowing how the recession will affect the company. Even though demand for the company's products remains high, their new income from Europe, that has sustained them during the grinding halt that is US economy, may experience a sharp decline as citizens of the EU head down to the beaches for the summer.

The Dark Knight returns to our screens

The latest installment in the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight, is about to hit us hard this summer. After dark auter Tim Burton's first two films followed a series of not so well executed sequels, ending in what was a garish fluorescent music video, aka Batman and Robin. However director Christopher Nolan came to the rescue and blew us all away with Batman Begins in 2005. Inspired casting began with that film and we will see Christian Bale don the cape and kevlar once more to do battle with the much awaited Joker, an intense character performance by the late Heath Ledger.

If The Dark Knight interviews and trailers are anything to go by, the action scenes and gadgetry will put every other Batman film to shame (and every James Bond film for that matter), and the production team tried to keep as many of the stunts as possible real. So, yes, that is really a man jumping off a 100 floor skyscraper, and apparently the only 3D in that scene is the fluttering of his cape.

What impresses me a lot more from the trailers is the unhinged lunacy of the Joker, an instability simmering just under the surface, less camp than the Jack Nicholson version (although that was in no way anything but excellent). Ledger was much more intimidating, creating an air of almost palpable danger.

However, what always lets me down in the Batman films, and there is no guarantee that it will or will not happen this time, is the inability of the directors to project Bruce Wayne's own instability and his ability to stand just this side of insanity. The Batman character in many ways is supposed to be a mirror of the Joker. And so far I have not seen this struggle to remain "good" portrayed properly. Having said that, Nolan has managed to turn the franchise around, so maybe he's done it all in this film.

Regardless, this is definitely going to be one of the biggest summer hits, and probably one of the biggest Batman hits. See you in the cinema.



Sponsored

Yahoo! shareholders not pleased with Google deal

Saying that Yahoo! shareholders are less than happy with the rejection of Microsoft's offer for Yahoo's online search branch, is an understatement. Yahoo preferred to make an ad deal with Google, and as a result Yahoo stock dropped by 7.5%, while Google stock rose.

Many of Yahoo's shareholders and certain analysts believe that joining with Microsoft would have been a much more lucrative decision. But Yahoo wanted to revive an offer made by Microsoft in the past to buy Yahoo in its entirety, an offer they had rejected. This time around Microsoft were no longer interested in such a deal and instead offered $1bn to take over the search business and another $8bn for 16% of Yahoo.

To give you a clearer image of the money being lost, Yahoo believes they can make up to $800 million a year with the current deal with Google, while analysts estimate that the Microsoft deal could have made up to $1 billion a year. That is $2oo,ooo the shareholders will not be seeing.

Furthermore, Reuters reported that there will probably be lawsuits from the shareholders that will eventually cost the company even more. Perhaps Yahoo execs know something the rest of us don't. Maybe in the long run it will work out for the best for them...

Retailers stand to lose millions from credit card fraud

A loophole that allows credit card fraudsters to bypass security and make purchases online without raising any alarms in the online purchases security systems was reported by the BBC today. Apparently The Third Man security company noticed the crime being committed completely by chance while they were monitoring sales at an online shop.

Apparently, the loophole can be found in the Address Verification System and is quite simple to carry out:

"When carrying out address checks AVS compares the house number of a customer plus the digits in their post code to those input during a transaction.

For instance, if the Prime Minister bought goods at an online store with a credit card, AVS would use numbers in the address - 10 Downing St, SW1A 2AA - to help verify his identity.

In this case AVS would use 1012 as a shorthand ID check."(BBC)

So technically, all a credit card thief needs to do is find out your address and then an address including those numbers and he can start ordering away from your credit card. Just another reason to cancel cards as soon as you realise you no longer have them on you, and be very careful where you order from.

As liberating as online shopping is for millions of us, we must not pose the new risks that accompany it and neither should the retailers we use. After all, 1 in 10 (Britons) has fallen victim to some sort of online fraud and several tech sites report that over £500 million in fraud was attempted in 2007. If they do not use a safer system, I'm not shopping from them.

If you would like to see what other ways there are to avoid online credit fraud have a look at this article.

BT goes faster! But at what cost?

So BT have finally decided to up their speed. However, the cost of their new BT Broadband Accelerator, part of its Home IT Support Service, is £90 a month. On the one hand, for a consumer such as myself I don't know if it is worth it at the moment. The minimum increase in speed is o.5Mbps and this increase can come about through optimizing your PC, checking the wiring, plugging the modem into the master plug and even by fixing faulty wiring or other household electrical applicances. But it's still too much for me, living with 3 flatmates in a 400-year-old cottage. Primarily because when you have 4 people downloading at the same time it will affect your connection and secondly because no amount of rewiring will help with the electrics in a house as old as mine.

On the other hand, if you run an office out of your house, this could cut out the IT man. If your livelihood depends on being online at any given time and using high speeds to get things done quickly, then it is worth having a technician come over and help you figure out how to make your broadband run faster. In fact, it might even lower your business costs, as faulty wiring and appliances or malfunctioning lights might be using up unnecessary amounts of power. In that case the £90 price is not out of the question. BT are also to launch a product called iPlate, which will supposedly boost broadband speeds and comes to £10, a much more realistic purchase for a consumer such as myself.

This all sounds great, but I have raise the issue of BT's competitors. Because if you check out average speeds, you will notice that BT is not at the top of that list. Not by a longshot...

BT goes faster! But at what cost?

So BT have finally decided to up their speed. However, the cost of their new BT Broadband Accelerator, part of its Home IT Support Service, is £90 a month. On the one hand, for a consumer such as myself I don't know if it is worth it at the moment. The minimum increase in speed is o.5Mbps and this increase can come about through optimizing your PC, checking the wiring, plugging the modem into the master plug and even by fixing faulty wiring or other household electrical applicances. But it's still too much for me, living with 3 flatmates in a 400-year-old cottage. Primarily because when you have 4 people downloading at the same time it will affect your connection and secondly because no amount of rewiring will help with the electrics in a house as old as mine.

On the other hand, if you run an office out of your house, this could cut out the IT man. If your livelihood depends on being online at any given time and using high speeds to get things done quickly, then it is worth having a technician come over and help you figure out how to make your broadband run faster. In fact, it might even lower your business costs, as faulty wiring and appliances or malfunctioning lights might be using up unnecessary amounts of power. In that case the £90 price is not out of the question. BT are also to launch a product called iPlate, which will supposedly boost broadband speeds and comes to £10, a much more realistic purchase for a consumer such as myself.

This all sounds great, but I have raise the issue of BT's competitors. Because if you check out average speeds, you will notice that BT is not at the top of that list. Not by a longshot...

Apple drops price of iPhone 3G

There is no doubt that the iPhone and the 3G version are two of the most sleek and beautiful mobile phone devices, although they do a lot more than just function as telephones. So in order to try and tempt some custom away from Nokia and Blackberry, Apple have announced that the new iPhone 3G will be offered to consumers for £100, in its cheapest version with 8Gb of storage. Not a bad deal, as with the new 3G technology Apple claims users will be able to download two times as fast.

However, Nokia and Blackberry are not sitting with their arms crossed and smiles on their faces. Even though Apple only holds 5% of the global smartphone market, the drop in price could bolster iPhone sales when it is launched in 22 countries in July. But it will have to compete with Nokia’s N96 and the Blackberry Thunder. Apple’s hope is that the £100 price tag, which they hope will be the same across most of the countries the phone is released in, will increase their sales and help them catch up.

90,000 Spanish lorry drivers hit the breaks

More than 200 Spanish lorry drivers ground traffic on the borders with France to a halt last night, as they parked their lorries next to the toll booths and proceeded to stop other lorries from passing, in protest to the 20% rise in the price of diesel fuel.

The tens of thousands of lorry drivers on strike are mostly self employed or work from small companies, and they all face the same problem with the soaring price of diesel. Bankruptcy.

The hauliers have found support from others in their trade in France and Portugal. These strikes are threatening the arrival of goods to supermarkets and fuel all over Spain. Since May, protests by lorry drivers, fishermen and taxi drivers in 7 European countries have been reported by the BBC, and if fuel prices do not decrease it could spell many more mass protests throughout Europe.

The soaring diesel prices are due, to a great extent, to the 15% minimum VAT imposed on the fuel. However, the EU has stated that it will avoid cutting fuel taxes in order to deal with the high prices, and instead recommends that national solutions be found in each member state dealing with the problem.

Perhaps it is time to focus on more fuel efficient haulage and fishing vehicles and subsidise the purchase of such vehicles, a trend that should be followed by every company worldwide, as it makes long term financial sense and improves companies’ image as regards to the environment.

Portuguese language Googled into Brazilian

Globalization has seemingly a rather twisted influence on languages. It all started from online chat-rooms where expressions of thoughts and emotions transformed into cute or devilish yellow round smilies. Since then, day by day words started losing vital vowels and consonants while new incomprehensible vocabulary emerging through mobile texting. Ok, yeah! Now you tell us, like we didn’t know.

What’s new though are the new consonants European Portuguese will be phasing in the next six years - k, w, y. Apparently the Portuguese parliament voted last week for adapting its national language to the more popular Brazilian Portuguese dialect. It seems that 80% of the world’s 230 million Portuguese speakers prefer to cut themselves some slack with confusing hyphens and silent consonants found affluent in the 2000 years old Romance language.

Although globalization plays an apparent role it isn’t the only influence; it is for the rapidly developing former colony and the influence of the Internet that made the choice to go “Brazilian” unavoidable. And that’s merely due as much to Brazil being the 5th most populous country, as to being a much stronger state in terms of culture and economy; on top of all that the fact that Brazilians outnumber Portuguese on the web by a staggering six to one. Since this disparity is set to widen in the close future and given the importance of the Internet as a medium of global intelligence and business, the adaptation was an one-way solution.

Well, it might be true that normally a European colonial power is expected to endorse their language version as the correct one when confronted on the matter by a colony. That's what makes it so remarkable though, this time happening the other way around. Obscure as it may sound, it was only 33,000 Portuguese who signed a petition protesting against it leaving politicians no choice but to decide that the new standardised language is to be taught in schools across Portugal, Brazil and even former Portuguese colonies like Angola and Mozambique.

Great, isn’t it?

Napster Store vs Apple Store - Great MP3 Battle

Los Angeles based Napster Inc. steps in an unexpected challenge with Apple. The digital music department spearheads this courageous attempt to contest in the stream of digital music by launching an MP3 download database two days ago.

The Napster store accommodates a huge, very elaborate selection of MP3 tracks with no digital rights management software for 50p each or £5 for most complete albums.

What Napster simply intended to do, and quite honestly it hit bulls eye there, was to create a comprehensive music portal, where music lovers will be engaged to the necessary level to create a sort of music synergy. And on top of everything else the MP3 tracks will be compatible with every sort of MP3 player.

Very admirable attempt from Napster indeed, but will it be adequate to face Apple Store?

Iron Man vs Iron Man

As a dedicated 27-year-old teenager I must admit I still love comic book movies, especially when they top the quality of X-MEN II or Fantastic Four - The Rise of the Silver Surfer. I was looking a couple of weeks ago online for reviews about the indeed very entertaining Iron Man from Marvel.

That's when I came across a great paradox, a huge dilemma reflecting in perfect form all those tiny, little things that make people’s views so different upon the same subject.

After reading foolish reviews of shallow people who had minimum know-how about movies, I decided to try good old Microsoft but by accident, instead of launching the uk.msn.com – I launched the American version. Well, since I am here wouldn’t harm me to take a look what reviewers have to say about the movie I anticipated from across the Atlantic Ocean, I thought. The rating was almost 5 out of 5 stars, a grade which was elaborated extensively and quite convincingly on the article followed.

Content and even more excited about the upcoming Iron Man and thought to check the British msn as well. To my astonished disappointment I came across a tiny little description, a humiliating review regarding the movie as a disgrace for the brilliant trailer and with comments that it shouldn’t have been released in full length.

USA msn: http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=2076905&mp=cr
UK msn: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/movies/specials/summer-blockbusters/article.aspx?cp-documentid=8194674

Here I provide both links so you know what’s going on, and please someone help me, should I go and watch it or just download it after sometime?

Youtube Insulting Clips Raise Concern

Youtube and inevitably Google have been caught up in one more controversy over anti-Semitic videos circulating onsite. The Central Council of Jews in Germany took the case to the court to persuade the video-sharing site to permanently eradicate similar context. Claims that Google is to be held liable for “aiding and abetting racial hatred and discrimination” might be on the exaggeration side, nevertheless in Germany, incitement to racial hatred crosses the legal red line. Echoes of last year’s report in which it was stated that, among other racist works, Internet viewers could watch a Nazi propaganda clip called Jud Suess on YouTube, have not faded away yet. While the paradox still stands that Jud Suess is a powerful weapon against racism offering compelling video testimony about that particularly insane mix of evil and absurdity that characterized the Third Reich, nevertheless righteous are the concerns about Youtube context.

On another instance last month, the National Society for Epilepsy (NSE) were not so radical from their side and curbed to a warning for dozens of clips of people having seizures, some viewed by more than 70,000 people. Hundreds more show people pretending to have seizures in an unintelligible mockery of people suffering the syndrome.

“Footage of people having seizures which has been posted on the website YouTube is like a modern equivalent of the Victorian freak show”. Dr Sallie Baxendale, consultant neuropsychologist with the NSE continued: "In the original freak shows you couldn't have epilepsy because you couldn't have it on cue but on a video you can watch it whenever you want. They have got very graphic titles like 'never ending seizure'. Those are the one that have got the most hits.

A YouTube spokesman in an attempt to answer claimed: "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site. Our community understands the rules and polices the site for inappropriate material. When users feel content is inappropriate they can flag it and our staff then review it as quickly as possible to see if it violates our Terms of Use. If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts."

Have you ever encountered something insulting on a personal basis on Youtube?

Coffee Republic offers wi-fi Internet free

Coffee lovers who fancy surfing and working online from the comfort of a big coffee shop armchair have one more reason to be happy. Indulging themselves in the bitter sweet taste and fragrance of their Arabica or Columbia variety cappuccino while getting free wi-fi Internet access has already start happening at Coffee Republic cafes.

Coffee Republic pioneered the market as the first UK coffee chain to provide free wi-fi to its customers and this is actually happening since beginning fo May 2008.

The company obviously isn’t doing that out of their good heart. They aim to increase traffic and sales targeting mobile workers, business people and students. The business plan is actually based on a recent survey of 1,000 business people which revealed that 24% of them would be utilizing wi-fi hotspots to work remotely from a coffee shop at least one day per week.

The system implemented will be retained simplistic; the customers making a purchase at Coffee Republic will be offered a free wi-fi voucher giving them a login code to access the store's hotspot from any wi-fi-enabled laptop, mobile phone or PDA.Very simple isn’t it?

Actually two of the trials in Reading and Weybridge led to a noticeable increase in footfall, how do you think it would influence your coffee habits?

Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee quit

Lee Kun-hee was South Korea's most influential businessman and chairman of Samsung until few days ago when he was forced to announce his resignation as chairman of Samsung while the powerful conglomerate still shakes from charges of massive tax evasion.

The 66-year-old Lee spearheaded South Korea's most powerful family-run company for 20 years while incorporating in his figure the country's ultra-secretive management structures. Many actually believe the same structures are personified by Lee, a man once considered untouchable because of his close ties to successive governments in Seoul.

Nevertheless, many regarded the apology for to his shocked compatriots as a rare show of accountability and welcomed Lee Kun-hee’s the resignation. Others though, voiced concern that his downfall would not only damage the conglomerate's reputation but hold back attempts by South Korea's new president to repair the battered economy.

Let’s not forget Samsung group, having interests in consumer electronics, shipbuilding and construction, accounts for as much as 20% of South Korea's exports. The Republic of Samsung as called by many, has more than 250,000 employees, and its annual revenues of $160bn (£81bn) are around the size of Singapore's gross domestic product.

I don't get, why tax invade when making this silly ammounts of money?

Phorm threatens ISP privacy

It was about time for those poor conspiracy theorists to raise their voice again over a new treacherous threat spawned to doom humanity once more. Well, maybe the arrival of an online advert system called Phorm isn’t perceived so dramatically by the entire 6.7 billion people on planet earth, nevertheless it has created a sensation.

Basically, web users consider Phorm’s applications as a possible privacy invasion in regards to creating targeted ads by identifying surfing habits. What it actually does is using your private browsing history, including your web page list, as an advertisement tool, a commodity to be brokered to advertisers. Not surprisingly, the 3 first UK ISP providers Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk refrained from announcing the ongoing tests conducting on Phorm.

Phorm’s directors and spokespeople came around to their critics well-studied, flashing back corporate privacy claims audited by Privacy International before Ernst & Young’s authorization. For the new technolgy, maintaining your IP address isn’t so important, so nothing illegal here; important though is a unique-number cookie planted on your browser. It’s a rather dynamic process utilizing “distillation” techniques and not memorizing or phishing, therefore not illegal.

Ok, considering everything went well so far on the secret plan, so Phorm has created an intelligent profile, not directly yours but your web activity’s which then bargains; by now its target market should be dead obvious… it is actually the market of online Ltds thirsty to taste the big cherry pie shared exclusively by the only big web three…

Lets see how interesting it will turn out to be, any first thoughts?

Yahoo pie share increase over Google

Yahoo! Inc. board of directors meet a couple of days ago to reconsider Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion bid. Although analysts and shareholders see the takeover as the most likely outcome, Yahoo's CEO Jerry Yang is still "on the pull" for an alternate bidder or a bulkier bid, ignoring Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer's threat for a proxy fight in less than two weeks. Yahoo's procrastination giving into Microsoft's offer temptation is fairly confusing for the market's realists; it is common ground that Microsoft remains the most motivated and best capitalized choice for Yahoo as a Yahoo-AOL merger wouldn't provide Yahoo's shareholders equivalent to Microsoft's bid value.

Yahoo's Jerry Yang, fully acknowledging the aftermath of a possible AOL transaction, also forged an agreement this week to run some of Google's advertisements alongside Internet search results. The deal, which will include no more than 3 percent of search queries is only a two week trial and an instant attempt for Yahoo to boost revenue as an independent company.

Yesterday's data may actually indicate a potential increase in Yahoo's Web search, specifically against Google. The good news for Yahoo's board and shareholders came from a study by RBC Capital using data on ad-buying trends showing Yahoo outpacing Google in search advertising spending, ad viewership and click-through rates during the first quarter.Yahoo's first-quarter piece of the search spending pie to 23 percent of the market from historic levels of 18 percent to 19 percent and they are expected to reveal their quarterly results tomorrow.

BT CEO Ben Verwaayen goodbye

BT Group Plc., the world’s first privatised state telecom company, fair wells current CEO Ben Verwaayen. Commenting on the succession, BT Chairman Sir Mike Rake acknowledged Mr. Verwaayen as the one “who transformed BT from being a deeply troubled organisation into a thriving business with global capability and a clear strategy for the future.”

In Ben Verwaayen's rein BT expanded its Global Services division, providing improved network and IT services to international customers in a period the company was struggling with the cross-industry phenomenon of declining call revenues. Mr. Verwaayen heads BT since 2002 and will step down from the board on June 30. In this 6-year period the outgoing CEO protected BT from an upcoming regulator-caused break up by “selling off” its network to its unavoidable rivals. He seized the opportunity to enter the network IT services market and managed to double the group’s share price between 2004 and 2007while on the same time established Openreach in 2005.

Things in BT aren’t so bright lately though. Past six months saw the shares taking a 30% dive trading not far from the 2002 levels. Although BT has 4.3 million users it isn’t used to steep competition from the likes of BskyB and Carphone Warehouse, which developed their own networks affecting BT Wholesale’s line rental income.

Ian Livingston, BT Head or Retail, takes over the command in very sensitive period when BT considers a complex and costly network upgrade. Market analysts, although still a bit concerned since 7 months ago BT welcomed a new chairman, maintain a strong belief in Livingston’s skills. The new CEO is expected to focus on a much expected detailed delivery of BT's new strategy, why don't we give him some time to prove himself?

Internet Stars Wars

The current unprecedented dogfight between software giant Microsoft against search giant Google over Yahoo Inc. is really admirable. It shows perhaps that this is more than just an agressive acquisition attempt as the stakes are very high.

When looking into this from a top level perspective Microsoft and Google are fighting over domination of the web. A deal between Microsoft and Yahoo will give the software company a considerable chunk of the search market, up to 30%. This means that there will be a valid contender in the search field.

Another area that will change the landscape is the domination of the email services market. Microsoft and Yahoo will cover 80% of the free email market. This is really significant in terms of advertising revenue.

But this is not all. There are many more areas where Microsoft can directly compete with Google even taking a shot at it's most popular services.

The online marketing agency community watches from the sidelines and secretly hopes for a deal to bring more competition in the space. Internet users are split, but Microsoft critics (and there are many) do not want to see the company trying to dominate yet another space with it's corporate approach. After all Google is giving out a lot more useful services, adding value. Would Microsoft do the same or would they try to charge for everything in the same way they do for their software?

Competition tends to drive prices down and give more negotiation powers to advertisers.
Given the past of Microsoft is this good news or bad omens?

New Savings Account with WaMu

Washington Mutual, or better known as WaMu, is a USA based bank which recently launched a new online Savings Account aiming to reduce operational costs and maximize customers' benefits.

Wamu includes in its very attractive package free Online Banking backed up by free electronic statements. The suggested interest fee is amongst the most competitive in the U.S. market and stands at 3.25%, while allowing the convenience to customers of starting up an account with as little as $1. WaMu endows its customers with no monthly service charge, when the account is opened and handled through its free online checking. Customers can also link their new online account to an existing active WaMu checking account, as long as checking relationship is maintained.

Although there aren’t any hidden costs, there is a monthly service charge amount of $4.00 which can be easily avoided if the minimum balance is maintained above $300.00 on any given time throughout the month.

Additional features included the potential sign up for an overdraft transfer service and available funds will be conveniently transferred from your linked Online Savings Account to your checking account to prevent overdrafts or other NSF transactions like bounced checks (subject to transaction limits and funds availability). Direct access to funds by ATM can prove very useful, though again transaction limitations do apply to online savings accounts and access is subject to funds availability.

Concluding, WaMu Free Checking™ proves itself as a useful and transparent online service providing customers with the Relationship Interest Rate/APY. The online savings account comes with free bank checks and money orders.

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