Carphone: People are clueless about data-roaming costs
In a survey of more than 2,000 people, the company found that just six percent of respondents knew how much they were charged per megabyte when travelling abroad, 11 percent bother to check before they travel, and 81 percent have had a bill up to £100 more expensive than usual when they go on holiday. At the same time, Carphone Warehouse said on Monday, around 85 percent of the contract phones they sell are web-centric smartphones."We've seen a real increase in smartphone users over the past year," Carphone Warehouse UK managing director Matt Stringer said in a statement. "However, even though adoption is high, the findings highlight the potentially high costs associated with using smartphones abroad... Data users should keep a look out for Wi-Fi spots where they can connect to the internet without using the local 3G network." The company's survey comes shortly before the European Commission unveils new proposals for driving down data-roaming charges within the EU. As ZDNet UK reported in May, these proposals will probably include caps on the retail price operators can charge for data-roaming services, as well as more structural changes that will force operators to give their customers a competitive market while travelling.
Capcom crushes replay value of new game by making saved games permanent
When you open your brand-new copy of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D today, you may find something interesting in the manual. "Note: Saved data on this software cannot be reset," you are warned. When you play the game and your progress is saved, there is no way to take it back. That is your game forever. Let me explain why this is so infuriating if you're unclear on just how hostile this is to gamers. Once you've beaten the game, you can't erase your progress and start over. If you want to loan the game to a friend, they won't be able to start their own game from the beginning. You may be able to trade the game into a store or sell it, but I wouldn't suggest buying it from someone used, since you won't be able to start from the beginning and unlock all the content yourself. "Secondhand game sales were not a factor in this development decision, so we hope that all our consumers will be able to enjoy the entirety of the survival-action experiences that the game does offer," Capcom said in a statement given to Giant Bomb.
Google+ launched to take on Facebook
Google is challenging Facebook domination by unveiling a new project called Google+ that it says will try to make online sharing more like real life. More than a year in the works, Google+ lets users share things with smaller groups of people through 'circles'. This means only university friends, workmates, or families – but not necessarily all at once – would be able to see photos, links or updates. Another feature called 'sparks' aims to make it easier to find online content you care about, whether fishing or recipes. That can then be shared with friends who might be interested in it. In an online video, Google calls it "nerding out" and exploring a subject together. Early reviews also suggest that the 'hangout' and 'huddle' elements of Google+, which enable video and mobile chat, could be aimed at challenging Skype, which was recently bought by Microsoft for $8.5bn(£5.3bn). "Google+ should give Blekko, Skype and a gaggle of group messaging companies a pause," said Om Malik, who has had an early view of the project. Lou Kerner, a social media analyst for Wedbush, believes Facebook has already won the competition to become the world's global social network. But he said: "I don't think they're seeing this as a direct competitor to Facebook.
Google Apps v Microsoft Office 365: Rumble in the enterprise
Office 365 has four cloud-hosted components: Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and Office Web Apps, which you can use to access the other three from a browser. The addition of Dynamics CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is planned. Some editions include a subscription to Microsoft Office Professional Plus – a version of Microsoft's classic Office desktop clients – but whether or not it is included, the great majority of users will need Office installed locally. Never a company to keep things simple, Microsoft has come up with a range of plans, grouped into educational, small business, and enterprise families. There is also a kiosk plan, for users without a dedicated computer. Prices range from $4.00/£2.60 for a kiosk user with Exchange and SharePoint, to $24.00/£15.75 for an enterprise user including a desktop Office license and Lync Plus for voice communications, though this last must be implemented on-premise.
The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/28/office_365_v_google_apps/
Why is European broadband faster and cheaper? Blame the government
It's not surprising that we lag behind such hacker havens as Sweden (number one worldwide, according to the study) and Finland (number seven), nor densely-populated Asian nations like Japan and South Korea (numbers three and four). But the U.S. also trails countries that are poor by European standards: Portugal is just ahead of us in 15th place; Italy is number 14. (The full rankings are on page 81 of the study). By most measures, the U.S. has been losing ground. The UK, which traditionally lagged in international broadband rankings, is now number eleven, Germany, which has been slow to move to the most-recent DSL and fiber technologies, is number twelve. I wanted to find out why we're doing so badly. So earlier this year I went to the UK and Netherlands under the aegis of the Washington-based Center for Investigation and Information to learn why broadband in those countries is so much better than ours. The project was funded by the Ford Foundation. (In April, my colleagues and I produced the first version of the story for the weekly PBS newsmagazine Need to Know; you can see that report here. Later this year, we hope to produce additional reporting for two NPR programs).
Vatican launches new website that integrates social networks
e Benedict XVI will launch the portal, www.news.va, with a papal click on Wednesday, the 60th Anniversary of his ordination as a priest. The portal is the newest attempt in a series of endeavours by theVatican - including the launch of a YouTube Channel, a Facebookpage and iPhone app guiding Catholics through the sacrament of confession - to spread the Holy Word through the Internet to a wider audience. “Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word,” said Pope Benedict in his message on the 44th World Communications Day, 2010.
LulzSec chatlogs analysed: who talked to who, and when
The LulzSec (RIP) chatlogs published by the Guardian last week gave us an fascinating glimpse inside the loosely-hierarchical hackers behind many recent profile attacks. But we didn't get a graphic of the various LulzSec associations. Fortunately, the Nonynews blog has stepped in. The above graphic shows how closely each of the pseudonymous hackers are linked, according to the five days worth of their private chats. Line thickness corresponds to relation strength, the colours correspond to the importance of each member (important marked red, then reduced through to yellow, green, aqua and, finally, blue). Joepie91 emerges as most engaged in the interactions, despite apparently being a fringe member when it comes to targeting and attacking websites
Hackers pierce network with jerry-rigged mouse
When hackers from penetration testing firm Netragard were hired to pierce the firewall of a customer, they knew they had their work cut out. The client specifically ruled out the use of social networks, telephones, and other social-engineering vectors, and gaining unauthorized physical access to computers was also off limits. Deprived of the low-hanging fruit attackers typically rely on to get a toe-hold onto their target, Netragard CTO Adriel Desautels borrowed a technique straight out of a plot from Mission Impossible: He modified a popular, off-the-shelf computer mouse to include a flash drive and a powerful microcontroller that ran custom attack code that compromised whatever computer connected to it.
British Government leads the world in internet snooping, Google reveals as it publishes its transparency report
Authorities in Britain are more likely to request details about internet users than in any other country, according to Google. A report by the search engine website reveals that law enforcement officials and government agencies made 1,162 separate requests for data from the company in just six months. When population sizes are taken into account, the figure puts Britain second in a table of 26 developed countries. Singapore - which has been condemned by human rights groups for its authoritarian regime - topped the table while Australia came third with 345 requests and France came fourth with 1,021 requests. The U.S. was fifth in the table with 4,601 requests for information in the second half of last year.
Tweet marks successful white space trial
rials to use the "white space" frequencies to carry data have been successful in the UK, with Cambridge Consultants confirming that it has sent a tweet in the unused spectrum between TV channels. The White Space frequency is seen as an area of the spectrum that can be tapped into to help in the struggle to provide rural areas with broadband coverage. The trial was carried out in Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, and as well as showing that social media tools could run, also underlined that this kind of technology can be used without causing interference on television channels.Richard Traherne, head of wireless at Cambridge Consultants, commented: "We believe that White Space, as a pioneering cognitive radio wireless technology, has the potential to change the way that people communicate, especially in rural areas.
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