jhernik - Slashdot User

Submission + - BBC Against Government Web-Control Plans (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Thursday November 18, 2010 @11:44AM

jhernik writes: The BBC is prepared to release software that will name and shame ISPs that show preferential bandwidth management

The BBC is working on software for its iPlayer service that will show if an ISP is throttling bandwidth.

At the FT World Telecoms Conference in London, Erik Huggers, BBC’s head of future media and technology, said, “I’ve blogged previously about my thoughts on traffic management but plainly, an open and neutral internet is crucial to the growth of our digital economy. Further, there is a need for consumers to know what sort of broadband package they are buying – or switching to – and the level of service they can expect.”

Submission + - Sustainability Software Set For Sharp Rise (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Wednesday November 17, 2010 @10:11AM

jhernik writes: A study from Verdantix has found that the demand for carbon- and energy-management software is about to pick up steam

The market for carbon- and energy-management software is set to boom in 2011, as companies are increasingly able to draw on hard data provided by the practical experiences of well-known customers, according to a report released on Wednesday by analyst firm Verdantix.

Verdantix said that in 2010 large companies such as Arch Coal, Marsh Supermarkets and Reed Elsevier bought into software platforms to collect, analyse and act on sustainability data.

Big-name customers
Software providers such as CarbonSystems, IHS and TRIRIGA are set to begin showing hard return-on-investment data from these and other large brand-name customers, according to Verdantix’s study, “Green Quadrant Carbon And Energy Management Software”.

This will trigger a “big increase in demand”, the company said in a statement.

Submission + - Anti-smartphone Phone Launched for Technophobes (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by geek4 on Wednesday November 17, 2010 @09:49AM

geek4 writes: A Dutch company has launched what it calls “the world’s simplest phone”, targeting users who are sick of new-generation models

Only capable of making and receiving calls, John’s Phone is dubbed the world’s simplest mobile phone, specifically designed for anti-smartphones users.

It does not provide any hi-tech features. No apps. No Internet. No camera. No text messaging. All you have to do – in fact, all you can do – is call, talk and hang up.

Named after the company that created it – John Doe, a full-service advertising agency in Amsterdam – the phone is designed for users who are fed up with smartphones and their hi-tech functions.

Its extreme simplicity is designed to appeal to technophobes, the elderly and young kids buying their first phones.

Submission + - Web-Users Fall For Fake AV (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Monday November 15, 2010 @10:18AM

jhernik writes: Fearing their computers may be prone to viruses, many web-users download fake anti-virus software, only to find later that their bank details have been hacked.

According to the latest research by GetSafeOnline.org, the UK’s national internet security initiative, a rising nunber of organised criminal gangs are tricking security-conscious intenet-users into purchasing anti-virus software to access their bank details.

Posing as legitimate IT helpdesks, these fraudsters target internet users concerned about protecting their computers. By offering free virus checks, they normally tell consumers that their machines are infected and offer fake security software protection – usually costing around £30 – which is actually malicious software in disguise.

Submission + - Google Lures To Chrome With Free Inflight Wi-Fi (eweekeurope.co.uk) 1

Submitted by jhernik on Tuesday November 09, 2010 @08:46PM

jhernik writes: Chrome users will be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi at 30,000 feet thanks to the latest promotion from search engine giant Google

In an effort to drive up market for its Chrome web browser, Google is offering free Wi-Fi Internet access on US flights

Google joined forces with airlines AirTran, Delta and Virgin America to offer free Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi Internet access on every domestic flight from 20 November through 2 January, 2011.

The news marks a change from and expansion of Google’s free holiday Wi-Fi offer last year.

Submission + - SPAM: Police To Get Facebook Lessons

Submitted by jhernik on Friday October 29, 2010 @12:40PM

jhernik writes: Detectives will be trained to track down criminals on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter

The police are to receive training on how to use Facebook and Twitter to catch people committing serious crimes. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) will overhaul its training modules to include sessions on the social networking sites for detectives.

Detective Training
“This programme is a vital part of the career pathway for detectives and the new training covers sensitive areas of policing where limited guidance existed previously,” said deputy chief constable Nick Gargan, acting head of the NPIA, in a statement to the Press Association.

“These improvements are exactly what detectives need to tackle the challenges and complexities of modern policing effectively,” he added. “The changes underline the importance to having a national agency to provide guidance and train detectives to a single high standard so they can work on investigations in any part of the country and give their colleagues and the public the best quality service in fighting crime.”
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Doctors Personal Data Sold Online (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Friday October 15, 2010 @06:07PM

jhernik writes: Another organisation has been found to be in breach of the Data Protection Act, after the personal information of doctors was sold online

The healthcare industry continues to live up to its reputation for suffering the most data breaches after the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found Healthcare Locums Plc (HCL) in breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA).

HCL, which is a specialist healthcare recruitment agency, lost a hard disc drive (HDD) that contained personal data of the doctors it employed, such as their security clearances and visa information.

The issue came to light when the HDD was returned to HCL by a member of the public after it had been sold on an online auction website.

Submission + - Google has Full-Page Preview,Twitter Integration (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Sunday October 10, 2010 @06:13PM

jhernik writes: Full-page Website previews in Google searches and Twitter links within news feeds are being tested

Google is currently testing full page previews of Websites entered as queries into the search box, a search engine optimisation expert discovered.

When information seekers type in a search query and hit Enter, they may see search results highlighted in blue. Hovering over these results pops out a preview of the Website associated with query to the right of the results pane. It has certain similarities with Microsoft’s Bing search pages where “hover preview” pops up extra information for selected search items.

In the current litigious climate of patent suits, Google could find it costly if it decides to implement this feature. It all depends on which patents cards Microsoft has in its hand and whether Google holds a trump card up its sleeve.

Could Be Another Instant Hit

Submission + - UAE Crushes BlackBerry Ban (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Friday October 08, 2010 @02:43PM

jhernik writes: It was back to business as usual in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today as the BlackBerry ban, due to be implemented on Monday, was rescinded.

A short statement was posted on the state’s regulatory body’s website. “The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has confirmed that Blackberry services are now compliant with the UAE’s telecommunications regulatory framework,” it read.

Other than acknowledging “the positive engagement and collaboration of Research In Motion (RIM)”, TRA gave no further details of what had been agreed. Speculatively, it is likely that a similar accommodation was reached in the UAE as was agreed with the Indian authorities.

On Monday, RIM agreed with the Indian Home Secretary to allow manual access to its Messenger service so providing automated access to unencrypted messages. This would reduce access time from several hours to real-time.

Submission + - BSA Brands Birmingham A ‘Piracy Hotspot&rsqu (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Thursday September 30, 2010 @11:07AM

jhernik writes: Two thirds of workers are prepared to inform on their bosses, as BSA swoops on Birmingham

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), has called Birmingham “an illegal software hotspot,” and given it three months to clean up its act.

Birmingham is the source of 15 percent of piracy reports in the UK says BSA, which campaigns against piracy on behalf of the commercial software industry and has started a three month campaign to stamp out software piracy in the city.

Birmingham, capital of piracy?

Submission + - eBay Phishing Suspect Finally Arrested (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Monday September 27, 2010 @05:52AM

jhernik writes: Law enforcement in Romania have announced the arrest of a man accused of trying to phish IDs and passwords for more than 3,000 eBay employees.

Liviu Mihail Concioiu, arrested on 22 September, is accused of having launched two phishing attacks against eBay in 2009 and stealing employee credentials with which he accessed an eBay database and stole company documents and files, among them an application used by eBay employees to query a database with information about customers and their transactions.

Separately, Concioiu is accused of working with others to fraudulently use ATM cards to withdraw 300,000 euros from banks in Italy. Prosecutors in Romania cooperated in the investigation with the US Secret Service officers in the US embassy in Bucharest as well as authorities in Italy.

Earlier in 2010, law enforcement officials from Romania and the United States arrested 70 members of three different organised crime crews for taking part in an online scam targeting eBay.

Submission + - Russian Domains Increase, China Cans Spam (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Friday September 24, 2010 @08:57AM

jhernik writes: There has been a noticeable increase in Russian spam domains since China changed its domain registration requirements in 2009

Spammers have increasingly been moving their operations to Russian domains since China’s domain regulator introduced tighter rules in 2009, security researchers say.
The CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Centre) changed some of its domain registration rules. Now, applicants are required to submit a formal, paper-based application to a registrar that includes, among other things, a photocopy of the registrant’s identification.

At the time, some security researchers predicted the move would have the side effect of making Chinese domains less attractive for cyber-criminals seeking anonymity.

Submission + - Growing Global IT Debt Hits $500 Billion (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by jhernik on Friday September 24, 2010 @06:31AM

jhernik writes: There is an urgent need to plan for application overhaul to address growing IT debts from maintenance backlogs, Gartner reports

Thanks to a decade of shrinking IT budgets, the global IT debt will approximate $500 billion in 2010, a gap that could widen to a potential $1 trillion by 2015, said a Gartner analyst.
Corporations have a list of maintenance tasks that need to be completed to upgrade all applications to the most up-to-date versions. It includes decommissioning older hardware and updating everyone to the most recent version of a software package. IT debt refers to the cost of clearing out this backlog.

Submission + - Mozilla Shows Seabird Concept Phone (eweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 24, 2010 @06:10AM

An anonymous reader writes: Everyone has to have a phone, including Facebook and Google, so why not Mozilla?

While rumours suggest Facebook may have a phone soon, browser maker Mozilla is also exploring the possibility of designing its own — and sharing the results in a video of a phone called Seabird.

The Seabird concept phone, revealed on the Mozilla Labs blog and in an animated video is a thing of beauty, combining a removable Bluetooth dongle, tiny pico-projecters and infra-red technology to create a virtual keyboard and make it possible to use the phone in a dock with a large screen.

Submission + - Intel Admits Theft Of Copy Protection Protocol

Submitted by jhernik on Monday September 20, 2010 @05:56AM

jhernik writes: The compromise means that Intel's HDCP protocol can no longer guarantee the protection of digital content

Intel is investigating how a master key for the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection [HDCP] protocol used to protect digital content made its way to the Internet.

Developed by Intel, the HDCP protocol is used to protect video and audio content as it is transmitted between devices such as Blu-ray players and high-definition televisions [HDTVs] and to verify the device receiving the content is licensed to do so.

The master key is used to generate keys meant for consumer devices. On 14 September, it was reported that a secret master key for HDCP had been posted on the Internet. Intel confirmed the key was legitimate on 16 September.

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