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Darling puts emphasis on broadband for all

Josh — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 09:56:10 +0000

With the recent budget that has been announced, Chancellor Alistair Darling has reiterated the commitment from the government to make Britain one of the world leaders in digital technology. He plans to roll out a major change to the broadband speeds. Super-fast broadband will be available to 90% of homes by 2017 which will be backed by a £6 annual tax on landline phones.

This will inevitably create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and lower the cost of public spending, according to the chancellor. “The UK has the potential to be a digital world leader. It needs high-speed broadband for rural areas as well as urban, it must not be limited to the well-off,” the chancellor said in his budget speech.

It might be a surprise however that the Darling did not reiterate PM Gordon Brown’s commitment to bring super-fast broadband to 100% of the UK by 2020.

Facebook removing stalker applications

Josh — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:24:07 +0000

Facebook have announced that they will aggressively disable applications that apparently allow users to view their profile and information on it. Facebook also announced that the applications don’t actually work and do not allow real private information.

The stalker applications as they are known have lured unwitting users and have helped spread the rogue software by attempting to install it. Two of the applications that have now been removed from the site are “Stalker Check”, and “Who has visited my profile”. They claim to display users who are regularly visiting their page.

Adding applications goes along with Facebook’s policy of allowing free use around their site but with these issues arising, will they clamp down on ANY new applications that are submitted?

Porn Internet Domain Name “.xxx” to Be Considered

Josh — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:43:10 +0000

The plan that was rejected 3 years ago to create an internet domain specifically for adult websites has been re-considered. Icann who govern the internet said the “.xxx” proposal will be looked at on 12th March. The idea of a .xxx domain was first thought of in 2001 and Icann approved the proposal 4 years later in 2005. The scheme will however be voluntary and the adult sites will be able to use other domain extensions like .com as well as .xxx.

This news has also come at the time when one of the most valuable internet domain names has come up for auction. The sex.com domain name is due to be sold in New York on the 18th March with a starting price of £670,000 (around $1m).

Browser makers demand screen time

Josh — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:55:38 +0000

Creators of small web browsers want their software to be given more prominence on the browser option screen on Microsoft platforms. There have been 6 software companies that have complained to the EU stating that many users do not realise their programs are on offer. The 12 web browsers that users have to scroll to the right to access are Avant, Chrome, Firefox, Flock, Green Browser, Internet Explorer, K-meleon, Maxthon, Opera, Safari, Sleipnir and Slim. The choice is being offerd as part of a settlement of an anti-trust case by the European Commission against Microsoft.

The browser choice screen has been drawn up to be compliant with the deal agreed with the European Commission, Microsoft have confirmed. Reports have shown that the choice screen is leading to a significant rise in the number of people using other browsers than Internet Explorer. In particular Opera said that it had seen downloads of its browser increase threefold since the choice screen was first offered.

Microsoft offers browser choices to Europeans

Josh — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:24:45 +0000

Microsoft is apparently set to ask millions of users across Europe whether they want to use a web browser such as Firefox or Chrome instead of their own. Users of their operating system Windows will be offered the choice. A pop up window will prompt users to choose/install one of 12 browsers or just stay with the current option of Internet Explorer. When running the operating system, either XP, Vista or 7 the software will present users with a window that says in bold text “An important choice to make: your browser”. It also asks people to ensure they are connected to the internet. Exact estimates are hard to find but web stats company Net Applications said IE is used by 62% market share. Its closest rival is Firefox at 24%. The browser choice system could confuse people – an example of this has been people confronted with the choice screen have been worried that their machine has been taken over or fallen victim to a virus.

Microsoft launches Windows Phone 7 Series for mobiles

Josh — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:45:12 +0000

Microsoft have followed up October’s release of Windows Mobile 6.5 with a new mobile phone operating system. Windows Phone 7 series is the new software that has a brand new interface that includes services such as the Xbox Live games and music service Zune.

Introducing this software at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress, Microsoft now hold around 9% of the “Smartphone” market. This means they rank 4^th in the market behind Symbian, Rim (who make Blackberry phones) and Apple iPhone. Microsoft has a lot of competition in this market. For example Apple has gained 15% of the market in just over 2 years and Google’s Android system has gained 5% of the market in just under 2 years. Microsoft will hope their new operating system will give them an advantage in the industry.

Google to offer ‘ultra high-speed’ broadband in US

Josh — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:28:27 +0000

The internet company Google has expanded in another direction – as a network provider offering ultra high-speed broadband throughout thousands of homes in the US. They plan to construct a fibre optic network which will provide speeds of up to 1Gbps to around half a million homes. Other network providers will be worried to hear that they also expect to compete with the price of their rates. Google said the trial they are attempting was about promoting “killer apps” that would take advantage of fast speeds. They already have a fibre network which connects its data centres and reduces the cost of streaming video on YouTube. The next stage is to connect that network directly to people’s homes.

Google takes on Facebook and Twitter with network site

Josh — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:44:37 +0000

Google has revealed that they are rolling out their new social network called “Buzz”. The product is integrated with Gmail so users with these email accounts can use Buzz through these accounts. The service lets users the option to post status updates, share content and like Facebook, comment on friend’s statuses.

Currently 400 million people use Facebook since their launch in 2004. Google will target their 170 million Gmail account holders to start off Buzz and they will go directly up against Twitter and Facebook in offering this service. Yahoo, one of Google’s main rivals currently offers a service that allows you to view updates from Twitter etc on the YMail pages.

Internet Addicts More Likely to be Depressed

Josh — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:50:14 +0000

Recent research by Leeds University students has found evidence of a link between using the internet to an excessive extent and depression. The British psychologists said that there are a small proportion of internet users who were addicts. They were more likely to be depressed than non-addicted internet users. The research was based around UK social networking sites and data from 1,319 users and how they used the websites.

The Beck Depression Inventory was completed by all users in the study to measure their depression rates. Questions were also asked about how much time they spent on the internet and what they used it for. The study seems to suggest that if you get addicted to the internet you have a higher chance of becoming depressed than if you spend little time online. This only seems to be the case with social media sites so far however.

Google Phases Out Support for IE6

Josh — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:53:01 +0000

Google has started to phase out any support for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6. The browser has recently been identified as a weak link and part of the Chinese attack on Google through Google Mail. Earlier this year Google had threatened to leave the Chinese market following the attacks it received from hackers where they accessed email accounts of Chinese rights activists.

This comes as great news to web developers who have long suffered with CSS bugs whilst trying to maintain browser compatibilities across the board. Around 20% of web users still use the nine-year old browser, including many UK government departments.

The browser doesn’t support modern web standards and restricts what web developers can do. Unfortunately though, Microsoft has said that it will continue supporting the browser until 2014!