EDS inks $361m CommBank desktop deal

SERVICES firm EDS has a five-year, US$310 million (A$361 million) extension to its desktop and end-user services contract with the Commonwealth Bank.

The deal strengthens EDS’ already deep relationship with the bank. It follows the signing last year of a new US$350 million master IT&T agreement involving enterprise processing services (EPS) for mainframe, mid-range and data storage until 2012.

The new desktop contract covers all computing services directed at end-users, including support and help-desk, email, messaging, MS Outlook web access and mobile information security. It also includes the service contract for ATMs.

“These services will provide enhanced user capabilities for the first time and provide a consistent consumer computing experience at home and also at work,” said the bank’s group executive for Enterprise IT Michael Harte.

“The demand for improved interactivity and convenience are greater today and our users are seeking improved quality.”

“The review process was conducted to capture business needs and external capabilities to give us a better understanding of market capability for desktop and service desk services, which meant that pricing for these services, could be accurately assessed,” Mr Harte said.

The agreement includes a new set of service levels which will ensure the quality of services provided.

“The service levels we have agreed to are at a level equal or better than those typical from others in the industry,” he said. “We believe this extension will be beneficial for both our businesses.”

“It is the Commonwealth Bank’s aim to ensure that the other organisations who are working to support this announcement are also required to raise the standard of service to meet the new arrangements. These organisations include: Dell, HP, Cisco, Microsoft, Xerox, Fujitsu, Ricoh, NetApp, NCR and Diebold.”

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Dell to sell through local channel

PC-maker Dell, which made an art-form of selling direct to end-users – bypassing traditional reseller channels – will soon start selling some desktops and notebooks through retail outlets in Asia.

The radical shift began in the US, where the company last month started selling some low-end machines through the giant WalMart chain.

Now the company says it has plans to extend the plan to the Asia-Pacific markets.

Dell’s Singapore-based Asia-Pacific chief Paul-Henri Ferrand told a regional media briefing that the company was in talks with retail chains and some specialist IT outlets, but gave no details.

He said the diversity of the markets through the region meant the indirect channel strategy would come sooner in some countries, and much later in others.

The company would use different retail chains in different countries as part of the plan, Mr Ferrand said.

“What we want to make sure is that we customise our approach by country and target (market),” he said.

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Asia-Pacific Internet survey released

US-BASED internet metrix firm comScore has released the first comprehensive review of Net usage in the Asia-Pacific region, making some surprising – and not-so-surprising – discoveries.

The comScore World Metrix numbers reveal that the Asia-Pacific makes up fully one-third of all internet users. But with internet penetration rates varying from 65 per cent (South Korea) to three per cent (India), there remains enormous growth potential.

The region is characterised by the vast differences between its many country markets.

While South Korea boasts the highest rate of internet usage (from home or work locations among users aged 15 or older), Australia is second with 62 per cent penetration, New Zealand third (60 per cent) and Hong Kong fourth (59 per cent).

There is still a lot of room for growth. The average person in the Asia-Pacific region visited the internet on 13.8 days in the month and spent 20.2 hours viewing 2,171 pages. This compares to the global averages of 17.1 usage days per month, 25.2 hours per month, and 2,519 pages per month, indicating that the Asia-Pacific region’s PC-based Internet usage is somewhat lower than the rest of the world.

Yahoo sites are the most popular in the region, though in Australia Yahoo sites are ranked third behind Microsoft and Google.

Meanwhile, comScore has also found that MySpace is starting to lose ground to FaceBook in the US as the most popular social networking service among teenagers.

Though MySpace is still the leader over FaceBook overall, comScore says in the US visitors to MySpace under the age of 18 dropped 30 per cent in the past year while FaceBook visitors surged 250 per cent.

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BlackBerry to land in China

IT has taken eight years of lobbying, but the BlackBerry global phone/email phenomena has been approved for sale in the massive China market.

Rsearch in Motion, the Canada-based makers of the BlackBerry, say they already have advance orders for 5,000 of the devices

“We're excited to move forward to deliver BlackBerry to corporate customers in key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, where there's strong interest in the BlackBerry solution,” RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie is quoted saying on wire services.

And the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper quotes a manager at RIM’s Beijing office saying the company expects to start selling its BlackBerry units in China by the end of the month.

The company had needed central approval from Chinese regulators nervous that the mail network for the global BlackBerry service was hosted offshore in Canada.

Global BlackBerry subscriber numbers have surged in the past year. And the company share price shot up more than 25 per cent after the company announced its first quarter earnings had jumped 75 per cent.

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Bebo announces A/NZ management

FAST growing social network Bebo has appointed former Yahoo7 group sales manager Francisco Cordero as general manager for its new operation in Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Cordero is Bebo’s first Australia-based appointment, a position he took up in Sydney this week. He is responsible for further establishing Bebo’s local presence and for cementing partnerships with clients and advertising agencies.

An experienced group business manager, Mr Cordero has a strong affinity for technology, cross-media advertising and emerging channels like mobile. He has more than seven years experience in sales and business development roles across Europe and Australia

“The appointment to the company of an executive of the calibre of Francisco Cordero reflects our ongoing commitment to the Australian and New Zealand markets,” Bebo’s international sales chief Mark Charkin said.

Prior to his last position at Yahoo7 – the Australia-New Zealand joint-venture of Yahoo! and the Seven Network – Mr Cordero worked at ninemsn, having moved from Lycos UK in Europe.

“We are experiencing a true internet revolution and with it a dramatic change in the media landscape – Bebo is an important part of this evolution and brands are going to significantly benefit from its huge reach” Mr Cordero said.

“Bebo offers a truly unique opportunity to work on one of the most engaged websites in Australia & New Zealand and I look forward to help develop its business from the grass-roots level up.”

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Feds approve Redmond online ads acquisition

MICROSOFT’s US$6 billion acquisition of online advertising firm aQuantive has cleared a major hurdle, receiving Federal Trade Commission approval.

Without the approval of the FTC, which governs anti-trust issues in the US and has overseen a decade of Microsoft-Government anti-trust clashes, the acquisition would almost certainly have been scuttled.

The FTC enforces a waiting period after a company announces an acquisition to review potential anti-competitive issues that arise out of large mergers.

But in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, aQuantive said the mandatory waiting period had passed without the FTC requesting any additional information.

A special meeting of aQuantive shareholders is now scheduled for the second week of August to vote on the Microsoft offer.

Like Microsoft, aQuantive is based in Seattle.

The acquisition was announced in May, just weeks after Google said it would pay US$3.1 billion for the online ad giant DoubleClick. Microsoft has complained that the Google/DoubleClick deal is anti-competitive.

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Google turns screws on MS anti-trust complaint

STILL unhappy with the treatment of its search engine by Microsoft, Google has applied to the US Judge overseeing the Microsoft anti-trust case to be allowed to participate as a “friend of the court.”

Google is unhappy about the way Microsoft treats search in its Vista operating system, saying it breaches the consent decree that settled the epic government anti-trust case against Microsoft.

Effectively Google wants better access to Vista desktop real estate. It says Microsoft makes it too hard for its Vista users to shift from Live search to the Google engine.

Last week, US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she would revisit the plaintiffs in the case – that is, the Federal and state attorneys general and Microsoft – rather than Google on whether Vista breached the consent decree.

The judges decision followed a request by Google to extend the consent decree and to clarify agreements reached between Microsoft and the anti-trust plaintiffs over Vista search.

In its latest filing, Google says it can offer the court important insight into Microsoft behaviour.

“As the developer of a major desktop search product and the company that brought the desktop search issue to the attention of the plaintiffs, Google has familiarity with the issues raised and is well positioned to provide information to the Court,” the company said in court documents.

Google is concerned that the changes Microsoft has committed to making to its Vista operating system don’t actually address its concerns. In addition to clarification of how that agreement will work, it wants direct input in the proceedings.

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Broadband land-grab slowing - report

THE broadband land-grab among internet service providers has slowed dramatically in the US, with the market’s “low-hanging fruit” already picked.

A report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project says 47 per cent of all adults in the US now have access to broadband internet in the home, compared to just 30 per cent in late 2005.

From mid 2005 to mid-2006, the broadband market grew by 40 per cent as middle-income earners and older age groups acquired home broadband connections.

But from mid-2006 to mid-2007, the growth rate was just 12 per cent. While middle-income and older age groups continued to show increases in home broadband usage rates, growth was much slower than in the past.

“The moderate growth in home high-speed adoption from 2006 to 2007 is partly a reflection of strong prior-year growth; the low-hanging fruit was picked in 2005,” said Pew Internet & American Life project associate director of research and author of the report, John Horrigan.

“Luring remaining hard-to-get adults to home broadband is likely to involve showing them the relevance of online content,” Mr Horrigan said.
The Pew Internet Project is a non-profit, non-partisan initiative of the Pew Research Center that produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care, and civic/political life.

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ACS backs teacher education program

THE NSW branch of the Australian Computer Society has opened up meetings, and special interest events to secondary ICT teachers and careers advisers to give them more exposure to IT professionals and IT issues.

All events would be made free for ICT teachers and careers advisers to help them stay to abreast industry trends. The announcement was part of the Industry Day for IT Teachers.

The ACS conducts a range of targeted forums for ICT professionals each month that are free to ACS members, but normally, attract a fee for non-members. As part of a one-year pilot in New South Wales, these forums will now be free for any ICT teacher or career advisor who pre-registers by calling the NSW branch office.

ACS NSW instigated the move to respond to the current ICT skills shortage by encouraging more young people to consider a career in ICT.

“One of the challenges facing our school system is the lack of opportunity for ICT teachers to engage in professional development activities that keep them up-to-date with the latest developments in technology,” said ACS NSW branch chairman Anthony Wong.

“By offering free access to all ICT teachers or career advisors wanting to attend any of our many, regular forums, we will provide greater opportunity to enhance their knowledge and enable them to promote ICT as an exciting and dynamic career opportunity to their students,” Mr Wong said.

In the next month, ICT teachers and career advisors will have access to a wide range of ACS events covering topics such as Project Management, Business Architecture and Design, developments in RFID technology, 21st Century Accounting, Podcasting, Knowledge Management and more.

“We want ICT teachers to tell us about their challenges and how we can help make information technology and computing more relevant and exciting for school students, with the ultimate aim of attracting more young people into this dynamic and rewarding profession,” he said.

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Pain-In-The-Arse 2.0

IDIOT words spawned by the Internet have been ranked for their irritation value for the first time. No surprises that most of the top ten annoying net terms are the product of Web 2.0 “enthusiasts.”

Heading the list of words likely to make users “wince, shudder or want to bang your head on the keyboard” was ‘folksonomy’, the idiot term for a web classification system.

The poll was conducted by UK pollster YouGov on behalf of the Lulu Blooker Prize, a literary award for internet-based books – ‘blooks’ for heaven’s sake – a prize that follows the well-worn Web 2.0 path of trading on the name of an established real-world entity.

The poll has been widely reported through the French press agency AFP, which said YouGov had polled 2,091 adults for the study.

‘Blogosphere’ was considered the second most irritating term, while ‘blog’ was third. ‘Netiquette’ was ranked fourth, while ‘blook’ rounded out the top five.

It is difficult to know how people decided between the top five, given they are all so bloody annoying.

There is more horror on the horizon. The Lulu Blooker Prize people are saying the first generation of “flooks” are well on the way (a flook being the idiot term for a film based on a blook).

Still, other words are proving useful. TwitterHead is a good one.

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Google: Just another word for corporate suit

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google, dissatisfied with changes Microsoft is making to its new desktop search feature in response to an antitrust complaint, is pushing for further changes and more judicial oversight of Microsoft's practices.

The escalation of the antitrust battle between the two technology giants came Monday in a filing with the court that oversees Microsoft's landmark 2001 antitrust settlement with the US government, major portions of which are to expire in November.

On Tuesday, US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will hear from Microsoft and government lawyers on the status of that settlement at a regularly scheduled conference in Washington.

The focus of the discussions are to include the original complaint Google filed against Microsoft over its latest operating system, Vista; the changes Microsoft and the government agreed to last week; and this latest filing by the Internet search engine giant.

Beginning last year, Google complained to the Department of Justice that Windows Vista's built-in desktop search -- a tool to quickly find files stored on a computer hard drive -- limited consumer choice and violated terms of the 2001 settlement.

Microsoft disputed those claims.

But after months of negotiations with the government lawyers overseeing the settlement, the world's biggest software maker agreed last week to make significant changes to Vista's desktop search, changes it says went beyond the antitrust settlement.

Google's filing Monday involved a motion to gain standing in the antitrust settlement and thereby have Kollar-Kotelly consider its so-called "amicus" brief -- essentially a request by a third party to intervene in the settlement.

To date, the judge has been hesitant to allow other parties to gain standing in the case, and Microsoft fired back late Monday with a filing that argues why Google should not be allowed to participate.

If Google's standing is denied, the amicus brief will be little more than a public-relations move, as some critics have already branded it.

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Launches sub-notebook assault

HANDHELD specialist Palm has launched a sub-notebook portable computer to be used in conjunction with its popular Treo smart phone as the company seeks to take advantage of explosive growth in the mobile email market.

Called the Palm Foleo, the new computer is about the size of a book and weighs 2.5 pounts – about half the weight of a small notebook system.

The Foleo mobile companion has a large screen and full-size keyboard with which to view and edit email and office documents residing on a smartphone. Edits made on Foleo automatically are reflected on its paired smartphone and vice versa.

Foleo and its paired smartphone stay synchronized throughout the day or at the touch of a button. This combination targets business users who want a complete mobile solution for email, attachments and Web access.

The Foleo’s applications include email, full-screen web browser, and editors or viewers for common business documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. The device stays synchronised via Bluetooth wireless technology and uses the smartphone's radio or the Foleo's built-in Wi-Fi radio for internet connectivity.

“As we did with the PalmPilot more than a decade ago, and more recently with the Treo smartphone, Palm is driving innovation and capitalizing on emerging opportunities in mobile computing, a market full of potential,” said Palm president and chief executive officer Ed Colligan.

“The Palm Foleo represents our first product in a new line of solutions that will redefine how people work while away from their desks. It starts today with a focus on wireless email, and we expect the Foleo to grow in features and expand its capabilities as the platform grows.”

The price of the Foleo mobile companion in the US is expected to be US$499 after an introductory $100 rebate.

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Axe swings for 8,000 at troubled Dell

DELL Computer will lay off ten per cent of its global workforce – or about 8,000 staff – as part of an ongoing restructure aimed at getting the troubled PC giant back on track.

The company announced the retrenchment plan as part of its quarterly earnings reporting process. The company said it had earned US$759 million (A$916.3 million) in after tax profit for the three months to the end of May, compared to US$762 million in the year ago quarter.

Sales were up nearly 1 per cent to US$14.6 billion, beating most analysts’ expectations. Dell’s US34 cent per share return outstripped the average analyst forecast of US26 cents.

The company said the lay-off would put pressure on operating margins over the next two quarters as restructure costs collided with the traditionally slower Dell quarters.

Dell founder and chief executive Michael Dell said the layoffs were unfortunate but the company would ultimately benefit.

“While reductions in headcount are always difficult for a company, we know these actions are critical to our ability to deliver unprecedented value to our customers now and in the future,” Mr Dell said.

It is not clear how many staff in the company’s Asia-Pacific operation – and Australia – will be affected by the latest round of lay-offs.

The Dell financial results are considered preliminary and were issued as a press release rather than a financial statement, as the company has not yet completed its lengthy investigation with auditors of accounting irregularities from the past.

The company’s Audit Committee chairman Thomas Luce said the investigation had taken longer than expected but that the company had been in regular contact with the US financial regulator over the matter.

“Although this process has taken us longer than we would have liked, it is important to commit the time and resources required to ensure a thorough and comprehensive review and resolution of all identified issues and the implementation of appropriate remedial measures,” Mr Luce said in a statement.

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Chip market growth slows dramatically

LOWER memory prices and continued price competition in the microprocessor market has led research group Gartner to dramatically lower worldwide growth forecasts to 2.5 per cent for 2007.

Gartner says the global semiconductor market will be worth US$269.2 billion (A$324.6 billion) in 2007, an increase of 2.5 per cent over 2006. The company had previously forecast growth for the year of 6.4 per cent.

Sales of semiconductors in the first quarter were more than five per cent lower than in fourth quarter 2006, a worse than expected decline that would normally be associated with the seasonal build-up in inventories at the end of the year.

“Since the beginning of this year, soft semiconductor market conditions have been exacerbated by sharply declining ASPs in key device markets such as DRAM, MPU and application-specific standard products (ASSPs),” said Gartner research vice-president Richard Gordon.

“It is likely that, despite continued unit growth in influential electronic systems markets, downward device ASP pressure will remain in place for much of 2007 as oversupplied semiconductor market conditions persist.”

The memory market is forecast to decline 4.7 percent in 2007 primarily due to a continued weakening of DRAM ASPs. Gartner’s latest forecast has DRAM revenue declining by 11.1 percent in 2007 to $30.5 billion, despite strengthening bit growth for the year.

The DRAM outlook for 2008 is for a mild revenue decline, again attributed to excess capacity and continued price declines. However, the 2008 outlook could improve if DRAM vendors adjust their current capacity plans, or if the NAND flash memory industry begins to see notably strong growth.

Gartner expects the worldwide semiconductor industry to return to modest annual growth of 8.7 percent and 7.2 percent in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

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Microsoft declares Zune success

MICROSOFT has claimed early success for its Zune hand-held music player and entertainment device (a hard drive-based killer in the iPod category).

Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division president Robbie Bach told the San Fransisco Chronicle that the company had sold 1 million Zune devices, exceeding expectations.

Mr Bach claimed sales since its launch had earned Zune a 10 per cent share of the market.

“We're still about nine months into having Zune in the marketplace. We're very pleased with the progress,” Mr Bach told the Chronicle.

“When we finish our fiscal year in June we'll have sold a little over a million Zunes. In the category we're in, the hard-disk-based category, we've got about 10 per cent market share. It's a good start. It's not an overwhelming start,” Mr Bach said.

The Zune was only at its early stages of market development and penetration, he said, with Microsoft planning investments in the product for the long term.

Though not specifically talking about the creation of a Zune phone, Mr Bach did not discount the possibility. He said the company had plans to add great social networking features to the device, particularly around the music files could be stored and used.

“As we look to the future, you're certainly going to see us continue to invest in that category. We don't enter things like that lightly,” Mr Bach said.

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Google snaps up Spanish photo start-up

GOOGLE is turning the acquisition of “interesting” technology into an art form. The company’s voracious appetite for new ideas has this time led it to Spain, where it bough photo-sharing site Panoramio.

The Google way isn’t always about acquiring technology it finds interesting itself. Often its about buying the technology that one of your competitors might find interesting.

In fact, engineers already joke that the most resume for applying for a job at Google (with a nice sign-on bonus) is to create something that might be valuable to a competitor.

But in the case of Panoramio, Google is already integrating its technology into its online maps.

The Spain-based Panoramio’s photo-sharing system let’s photographer “geo-locate” their pictures, linking them to the points on Google Earth where the pictures were taken.

“Panoramio is a community photos website that enables digital photographers to geo-locate, store and organize their photographs – and to view those photographs in Google Earth,” Google director of Maps, Earth and Local, John Hanke, said on the company blog.

“We've been working with Panoramio for some time – its photos have been a default layer in Google Earth since the beginning of the year,” Mr Hanke said.

“This layer will remain in place as our teams work together toward further integrating this amazing content, generated by many, into our mapping technologies.”

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Sophos creates follow-the-sun security blog

IT security specialist Sophos has unveiled a 24-hour, follow-the-sun blog designed to provide breaking news and commentary on emerging security threats.

The SophosLabs blog is written by security researchers at SophosLabs, with regular contributions from the companies researchers based in Sydney, Oxford, Boston and Vancouver.

The blog will be updated several times each day to cover the latest technical information and stories of interest.

The Sophos network of malware and spam analysis centres in each location means the blog covers global timezones.

Australian contributors will include Sean McDonald, SophosLabs Manager, JPAC, and the team at Sophos's North Sydney threat analysis, research and development centre.

“In today's world of rapidly evolving security threats, organisations need swift access to information about what's out there, what's interesting and what's causing a problem," said Mark Harris, director of SophosLabs in the UK.

“The new blog provides Sophos customers, business partners and the general public with updates on interesting new malware and spam techniques, insight into web-based threats, and even examples of when hackers get it very, very wrong,” Mr Harris said.

For more Web Applications news, click here.

Apple to deliver YouTube to TV

APPLE has signed a deal with Google’s YouTube unit that will deliver the internet video catalog to television screens via the Apple TV set-top box.

Starting this month, Apple TV will wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube and play them on a user’s widescreen TV. Using Apple TV’s interface and Apple Remote, viewers can browse, find and watch free videos from YouTube in the comfort of their living room.

“This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun,” said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

“YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the Internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room,” Mr Jobs said.

Thousands of the current and popular YouTube videos would be available on Apple TV at launch, with YouTube adding thousands more each week until the full YouTube catalog is available.

Naturally, nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and pundits are already saying Apple may find itself in the middle of the copyright row between YouTube and a host of content providers.

In March, media giant Viacom (owners of MTV and a host of other media properties) sued YouTube for US$1 billion for alledged breaches of copyright.

Viacom’s suit complains bitterly that YouTube did not adequately police what its users uploaded to the site – and consequently it content frequently breached the copyright of others.

Apple also launched this week its iTunes Plus service, which allows music downloads that have no copy-protection that limits how consumers can use the songs. iTunes Plus features artists from EMI, which include Coldplay and The Rolling Stones.

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Sweden opens Second Life embassy

SWEDEN has become the first nation-state to open a diplomatic mission with the virtual world of Second Life, the virtual world of computer generated residents.

Agence France Presse (AFP) is reporting that the Swedes inaugurated “The Second House of Sweden” a week ago, quoting the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

“Second Life is just beginning so we do not know its full potential. Ten years ago we didn't know the potential of Google for instance,” Mr Bildt said.

Second Life is a user generated virtual world created by San Francisco-based Linden Laboratories. It has been the subject of increasing interest from commercial organisations which want to use it as a way of communicating with consumers.

Australia’s Telstra and ABC ate two of the biggest commercial entities to have created a presence in Second Life. More recently politicians have sought to use Second Life as a vehicle to market their message.

At last count there were 6.8 million members of Second Life, with 1.7 having visited the site in the past 60 days.

AFP reported that Sweden had spent about 400,000 kronor (A$70,244) on The Second House of Sweden, which it hopes will reach millions of users worldwide.

According to AFP, The Second House of Sweden will give the Nordic country important visibility and will serve as a place to spread information about Swedish culture and businesses.

Exhibitions and cultural events that take place in Sweden will also be presented in the virtual world as will businesses and famous Swedes.

Each element in the mission, such as art, food or music, will have a link to a related website.

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Facebook opens a new social page

SOCIAL networking comer Facebook has opened its platform to other application developers with the aim of making the service a kind of operating system for the new Web 2.0 world.

Facebook’s 23-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg said the company has set in place programs to encourage third-party developers to build applications that tightly integrate with the platform.

“Until now, social networks have been closed platforms.Today, we’re going to end that,” Mr Zuckerberg told an audience of more than 750 developers and partners.

“With this evolution of Facebook Platform, any developer worldwide can build full social applications on top of the social graph, inside of Facebook.”

The keynote opened the Facebook f8 event, named to reflect the developer hackathon that ends 8 hours after the address during which new applications will be created for Facebook.

This week, Facebook Platform launched with more than 65 developer partners and 85 applications and with the introduction of an example application called Video.

E-commerce giant Amazon.com is the highest profile of the third-party firms committed to using Facebook Platform to deliver applications. Amazon will next week launch an application that lets Facebook members publish book reviews on their profile page.

Mr Zuckerberg detailed how any developer can build an application that is as integrated into the site’s information flow and connections of relationships as Facebook’s own applications.

Facebook users decide which applications to add and can control their order and appearance within their profiles, all with the familiar Facebook design. Users can always remove applications, including those built by Facebook, and will have their privacy controls maintained across applications.

Facebook introduced a new markup language, Facebook Markup, which along with its previously released APIs allows developers to build applications fully integrated into the site.

Facebook Markup includes features, such as dynamic information tags, conditional privacy tags, image caching and Flash. Developers can build anything they want in full, unlimited application pages on Facebook, called the “canvas pages,” and applications also can have a box in users’ profiles and navigation.

The Facebook site is now the sixth most trafficked internet destination in the US, and is second only to News Corporation’s MySpace as the world’s largest social networking site.

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More than a million: Do Not Call

MORE than one million telephone numbers have been listed on Australia’s new Do Not Call register as consumers opt-out in droves from receiving calls from telemarketers.

The Do Not Call register, which has been pre-registering people wanting to block calls from telemarketing companies for more than a month, came into effect this week.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan said when the service went live on Thursday, 1,012,813 numbers had been registered. More than 20,000 numbers per day had been registered, she said.

“The Do Not Call Register allows families to re-claim their evenings as their own, to once again enjoy uninterrupted dinner times by opting out of receiving telemarketing calls,” Senator Coonan said.

“At the same time, the Government recognises that there are many organisations and institutions, such as charities and social researchers that make unsolicited calls while performing a valuable community service.

“That is why we have made limited exemptions to protect the interests of these organisations and the important role they play in the community and in the broader public interest.

“Many responsible direct marketing organisations have gone to great lengths to accommodate the Do Not Call register and I congratulate them on their cooperation and goodwill during this period of change.

“I am confident that the Australian Government’s Do Not Call register will greatly reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls and that consumers will be able to reclaim their evenings.

Senator Coonan also said that more than 44,500,000 numbers had been checked, or ‘washed’, against those listed on the register, following the start of the list washing service on 25 May. A total of 355 businesses have opened accounts with the register.

For more e-Marketing news, click here.

Google shreds competition in Web numbers

INTERNET search leader Google has sharply increased its marketshare in the US, taking share directly from each of its two nearest rivals, according to new research from comScore.

In its April search engine rankings research, comScore found Google held 49.7 per cent of the US search market, up 1.4 per cent compared to its March numbers.

Google’s growing share compared to a decline for Yahoo, the second-ranked search engine in the US, with a share that fell in April 0.7 per cent to 26.8.

Third placed Microsoft’s sites lost ground also, falling 0.6 per cent to hold 10.3 per cent of the US search market, comScore found.

Fourth place Ask.com also lost ground, falling 0.1 per cent in April to 5.1 per cent. Google’s 1.4 per cent market share gain in April matched the combined 1.4 per cent losses of Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.

Google has grown rapidly and steadily in the past two years, taking market share from rivals in 21 of the past 24 months.

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Norton update crashes PCs in China

MILLIONS of personal computers and servers in China have been crashed by a faulty update to Symantec’s popular Norton anti-virus software, China’s state-run Xinghua News Agency has reported.

Xinghua said more than 1000 customers in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has reported the problem by lunchtime last Friday.

It said an automated update of the Chinese version of Norton Anti-Virus issued last Friday caused computers running Windows XP to crash to a blue screen of death. The computers returned to the blue screen even after a reboot.

Symantec confirmed the incident had resulted from an inappropriate handling of an automatic upgrade of the AntiVirus security software. It is thought the update accidentally prompted computers to kill two essential system files.

Xinghua said it was estimated that several million users ran the Windows XP operating system with Norton Anti-Virus in China.

The state-owned English language China Daily newspaper said Chinese companies were already seeking compensation.

For more IT Security news, click here.

Microsoft unveils next-gen Surface computing

IT’S not often that Microsoft is able to spring new product on the market that haven’t already been heavily previewed through leaks, official or otherwise.

But the company managed to do that today with a launch from way outside of the box – a coffee table-shaped computer called Surface that re-invents the user interface.

Developed by Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, Surface dispenses with keyboard and mouse in favour of a desktop system where data is manipulated by hands, voice and pen.

The touch screen tabletop lets users “grab” data or manipulate pull-down menus. Barcoded objects sitting on the tabletop can be integrated into applications so that their movement becomes a part of the user interface.

Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that small groups can use at the same time. The OS in the system is based on Vista and can deal with several users at once (which different people at a table manipulating different parts of the system), Microsoft said.

Surface Computing sounds gimmicky. And with the devices (which Microsoft is manufacturing itself) are not cheap at US$5,000 (A$6,100) to US$10,000.

But Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who launched the new systems at the Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference in California, says the company is serious about developing the systems into a mature market.

“With Surface, we are creating more intuitive ways for people to interact with technology,” Mr Ballmer said.

“We see this as a multibillion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror. Surface is the first step in realising that vision,” he said.

The first business applications for the systems will be in hospitality, entertainment and retail, Microsoft said. Harrah’s Entertainment, the hotel and casino group has said it will use the systems in a variety of dining, entertainment and reservation tasks.

Mobile phone company T-Mobile will use the Surface systems in retail outlets to let people look at products, prices and features of mobile phones (which will sit on the tabletop, and bring up data as customers manipulate the phone).

Microsoft corporate vice-president Tom Gibbons says the technology that drives Surface and its potential applications should not be underestimated. Microsoft’s core goals had always focused on bringing increasingly natural interfaces to computing, and Surface was a big step in that direction, he said.

“Surface computing is a powerful movement. In fact, it’s as significant as the move from DOS [Disk Operating System] to GUI [Graphic User Interface],” Mr Gibbons said.

“Surface computing breaks down those traditional barriers to technology so that people can interact with all kinds of digital content in a more intuitive, engaging and efficient manner,” he said.

“It’s about technology adapting to the user, rather than the user adapting to the technology.”

“We’ve looked at the market extensively, and when you consider that the revenue-generating opportunities include services, hardware and software, we believe there will be a multi-billion-dollar addressable market for surface computing,” Mr Gibbons said.

For more Business Software news, click here.

IBM pays US$12.5b for own stock

IBM has embarked on the most aggressive share buyback scheme ever seen, borrowing US$11.5 billion (A$14 billion) to finance the purchase of its own stock.

The share buyback scheme at IBM is not new. The company has spent US$80 billion buying its own stock since 1995. But in recent months the Big Blue buy-back has accelerated sharply.

According documents lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), IBM in April authorised US$15 billion be spent on the repurchasing its own stock.

As part of the buyback plan, the company commissioned three banks to spend US$12.5 billion buying its own stock – taking in a staggering eight per cent of outstanding shares. In this part of the program, IBMN stumped up US$1 billion in cash to fund the purchase, but borrowed US$11.5 billion.

The share buyback itself is not unusual. Large companies in recent years have used share buyback schemes to boost earnings per share by reducing the number of shares in the market. This increases share price.

What has investors watching IBM so closely is the extent it has borrowed to fund the scheme. IBM said the company was under-leveraged.

For more Business Software news, click here.

Scammers sting Do Not Call register

FEDERAL Communications and IT Minister Helen Coonan has issued a warning to consumers about scams related to Government’s new Do Not Call Register.

Senator Coonan said she had been made aware of scammers who were knocking door to door charging residents up to $79 to have their names added to the free Do Not Call Regiter.

The register was set up as a free service to let people opt out of receiving calls from telemarketers, either at home or on their mobile telephones. The service officially starts this week, but has been pre-registering numbers online for weeks.

“Everyone needs to be aware that it is FREE to put your home and mobile number on the Register. The Government has paid for the establishment of the Register, with industry contributing to the running costs,” Senator Coonan said.

“With the official start of the Do Not Call Register only days away, it is very disappointing to hear that some unscrupulous scam merchant may be trying to illegally profit from the extremely popular Do Not Call Register,” she said.

“Since the launch of pre-registrations on 3 May, the Do Not Call Register has been extremely popular with over 927,000 numbers being registered already.

“However it is outrageous that people may be trying to cash-in illegally on the popularity of this great Government initiative.

“I urge residents not to hand over money to these scammers but to get as many details as possible from them to help authorities identify the criminals,” Senator Coonan said.

From midnight on Thursday, it will be illegal for telemarketers to cold call numbers that are listed on the Do Not Call Register.

While a very limited amount of calls will be allowed, including those from charities and market research companies, Senator Coonan said evidence shows the Register will greatly reduce the number of unsolicited calls.

For more Telecommunication news, click here.

New industry referee takes TIO chair

THE telecommunications industry has a new ombudsman with the appointment of former Western Australian Ombudsman Dierdre O’Donnell appointed to the chair.

Ms O’Donnell replaces the long serving John Pinnock, who was the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) for 12 years. She started in the role this week.

Ms O’Donnell has most recently served as the Western Australian Ombudsman, and is highly regarded in the telecommunications sector.

She has previously served as the Deputy Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and has also held senior roles in industry regulation and the telecommunications industry.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Helen Coonan welcomed the appointment of Ms O’Donnell and acknowledged the significant contribution of Mr Pinnock.

“I am sure Ms O’Donnell’s experience and understanding of this dynamic sector, along with an ability to draw on different perspectives will serve her well,” Senator Coonan said.

“Mr Pinnock’s tenure as Ombudsman has been significant due to the growth in the size and complexity of the telecommunications industry. This has lead to greatly increased pressure on the position of Ombudsman,” she said.

“During this period of change Mr Pinnock has maintained a strong focus on investigating, resolving and determining consumer complaints with great dedication and commitment.”

The TIO is a free and independent dispute resolution scheme for small business and residential consumers with unresolved complaints regarding their telephone or internet services. The TIO has the authority to make decisions that are legally binding upon telecommunications companies.

Ms O’Donnell said that she was looking forward to the challenge of improving outcomes for telecommunications consumers while at the same time helping to increase the standard of complaint resolution within the industry.

“Telecommunications is one of our most dynamic industries and that rate of change brings significant challenges for providers and consumers alike,” Ms O’Donnell said.

“The TIO has proved that it has an important part to play in the relationship between consumers and the industry. I am looking forward to ensuring that the TIO maintains its high standard of professionalism.”

For more Telecommunications news, click here.

Feds scrutinise Google-DoubleClick deal

FEDERAL regulators in the US have confirmed they have opened an antitrust investigation into Google’s proposed US$3.1 billion (A$3.8 billion) acquisition of online advertising giant DoubleClick.

The Federal Trade Commission review had been expected, though government has been subjected to fierce lobbying from both sides of the deal.

The New York Times reported unnamed executives familiar with the investigation saying the FTC review had started last week. It quoted an FTC spokesman confirming the commission’s policy of not commenting on inquiries.

DoubleClick, which specialises in placing and tracking online display advertising on behalf of customers, had been the subject of a bidding war between Google and Microsoft. Google won.

When the US$3.1 billion acquisition plan was announced a month ago, the deal attracted heavy criticism from privacy advocates and civil libertarians.

Microsoft also weighed in, saying the combination of Google and DoubleClick centralised too much power in the online ad market. Microsoft urged US regulators to investigate the deal’s antitrust implications.

Google has lobbied government to allow the DoubleClick deal, arguing the acquisition poses no threat to competition.

Google senior corporate counsel Don Harrison Don Harrison said in a statement this week the combination of the two companies would deliver benefits to consumers by giving them more relevant advertising and greater choice.

“Numerous independent analysts and academics have determined after looking at this acquisition that the online advertising industry is a dynamic and evolving space — as evidenced by a number of recently announced acquisitions — and that rich competition in this industry will bring more relevant ads to consumers and more choices for advertisers and Web site publishers,” Mr Harrison said.

The FTC is known to have already sent Google a detailed list of questions related to the DoubleClick acquisition.

For more Digital Content news, click here.

Huawei inks joint-venture with Symantec

CHINESE networking giant Huawei has signed a groundbreaking joint-venture with US security specialists Symantec to develop and distribute security and storage appliances for corporate customers.

The joint-venture’s storage and security appliance products will also target phone companies and service providers.

“The joint venture will help carriers and enterprises effectively address these challenges by offering security and storage appliances that are easy to implement and maximize value to customers,” the companies said.

The yet-unnamed joint-venture is subject to government approvals, though Huawei and Symantec hope it will be operational by the end of the year.

The joint-venture will be headquartered in the Chinese city of Chengdu. It will be 51 per cent owned by Huawei and 49 per cent by Symantec.

“Network security will definitely form the foundation as telecom networks migrate toward an All IP environment,” Huawei chief executive officer Ren ZhengFei

“The partnership will enable us not only to provide leading network security solutions to carriers, but also to deliver professional security and storage solutions to enterprises, helping our customers build a safer and more efficient network.”

Huawei will contribute its telecommunications storage and security businesses including its integrated supply chain and integrated product development management practices.

Additionally, the new company will have access to Huawei’s intellectual property (IP) licenses, research and development capabilities, manufacturing expertise and engineering talent, which includes more than 750 employees.

The joint venture’s services and support infrastructure will draw upon Huawei's successful model for customer service and technical support, including worldwide technical support and call centre operations.

Symantec will contribute some of its leading enterprise storage and security software licenses, working capital, and its management expertise into the new company. Symantec will also contribute US$150 million toward the joint venture’s growth and expansion.

For more IT Security news, click here.

Yahoo technology chief resigns

YAHOO chief technology officer Farzad Nazem will retire from the company within weeks after more than ten years overseeing all Yahoo engineering and product development.

Mr Nazem announced via the Yahoo company blog that he’d “finally decided it was time to slow down.”

He joined Yahoo in 1996. In addition to the role of CTO, Mr Nazem was also head of Yahoo’s Technology Group.

“After joining tiny little start-ups like Oracle and then Yahoo, I never imagined things would take off the way they have,” Mr Nazem said.

“And looking back on my eleven years here at Yahoo, I’m amazed at all that this company has accomplished,” he said.

“Yahoo has played such a significant role in building the Internet into what it is today and I’m incredibly proud to have been a part of such a talented team.”

Yahoo has not announced a replacement for the CTO position or head of the Technology Group, but in his blog Mr Nazem said that Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang would “act as the interim executive sponsor of the Technology Group until we identify my permanent replacement.”

The resignation was also reported to regulators through the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

For more e-Marketing news, click here.

News Corp dips into Photobucket

TRADITIONAL media giant News Corporation has furthered bolstered its internet ambitions, acquiring media-sharing site Photobucket for about US$300 million (A$362 million).

News said the acquisition, made through Fox Interactive Media (FIM), meant theat users of FIM’s other user-generated content property MySpace could access Photobucket’s photo and video technologies.

Now owning MySpace and Photobucket, News now controls two of the largest, most trafficked social networking and user content sites in the world. MySpace boasts about 200 million users, while Photobucket has attracted more than 44 million.

Fox Interactive president Peter Levinsohn said Photobucket also would be able to incorporate advanced slideshow generators and other editing tools from Flektor, which Fox Interative also acquired this week.

“Together, they represent a powerful combination and we are thrilled for them to join our network,” Mr Levinsohn said.

Photobucket chief executive and co-founder Alex Welch said the acquisition would not change anything in the day to day operations of the company, which he said would operate as a standalone company within FIM.

The acquisition would deliver Photobucket the resources of Fox Interactive, enabling it to deliver new tools faster.

“We plan to continue developing innovative tools that enhance self-expression and give you the best media sharing, linking and searching experience on the Web,” Mr Welch wrote in the company blog.

“Partnering with FIM will give us added resources and support to deliver on this vision, as well as the ability to offer new features for you -- our most important audience,” he said.

For more Web Applications news, click here.

Online Google apps heads offline

GOOGLE has unveiled new open source software technology that will let developers create Web applications that allow users to continue working regardless of whether they have a Web connection.

The new software means people working on Web applications can continue to work offline even when they lose the connection, or if a connection is not available – like on airplanes.

Called Google Gears, the open source software was launched as part of Google Developer Day 2007. The new browser extension is being made available to developers in its early stages so its capabilities and limitations can be broadly tested to get the kinks out.

The company said Google Gears was an important step in the evolution of web applications because it addressed a major user concern: availability of data and applications when there’s no internet connection available, or when a connection is slow or unreliable.

As application developers and users alike want to do more on the web—whether it’s email or CRM or photo editing—enhancements that make the browser environment itself more powerful are increasingly important.

“With Google Gears we're tackling a key limitation of the browser in order to make it a stronger platform for deploying all types of applications and enabling a better user experience in the cloud,” Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said.

“We believe strongly in the power of the community to stretch this new technology to the limits of what’s possible and ultimately emerge with an open standard that benefits everyone.”

Google is offering Google Gears as a free, fully open source technology in order to help every web application, not just Google applications.

The company said it had been working closely with third-party developers in the design of Google Gears. It wheeled out representatives from Adobe, Mozilla and Opera Software in support of the system.

“This announcement is a significant step forward for web applications,” said Mozilla Corporation chief technology officer Brendan Eich. “We're pleased to see Google working with open source and open standards bodies on offline web applications.”

For more Open CeBIT news, click here.

Deutsche Telekom buys into Jajah VoIP

THE dominant German phone company Deutsche Telekom has invested in web-phone start-up JaJah that develops technology that could ultimately cannibalise the telco giant’s own revenues.

Deutsche Telekom said its T-Online Venture Fund unit was an equity participant in a US$20 million investment in Jajah as part of a venture round co-led by Intel Capital.

The investment marks the first time a dominant telecommunications player with a POTS heritage has so readily backed a firm that is building disruptive services that dramatically undercut the company’s own services.

Jajah recently announced it has acquired more than two million users from 55 countries in their first year of business by providing next-generation calling solutions, as well as ultra-low cost phone connections to the most called places on earth.

Unlike traditional VoIP (voice over IP) solutions, Jajah uses regular phones and does not require software or special equipment. A user simply initiates the call from www.jajah.com and Jajah connects the call to either landline or mobile phones, for a fraction of traditional cost.

Additionally, users can make the same calls from many mobile phones and from web enabled smart phones.

“The agreement is unprecedented. Jajah is the first Voice 2.0 company to receive this level of industry validation and support. The long-term implications can’t be understated,” said Jajah co-founder Roman Scharf.

T-Online Venture Fund, already well known for service and technology innovation investments, is expecting attractive synergies for Deutsche Telekom business units by bringing Jajah web embedded solutions to consumer and business customers.

“Jajah brings together the best of the Internet with the best of telephony,” said Jajah chief executive Trevor Healy. “It is great to receive this validation from the telecommunications industry, whom we have always considered the key partner in bringing world-class solutions to consumers.”

“T-Online Venture Fund links us to Deutsche Telekom, one of the clear leaders in global communications and brings to JAJAH unprecedented strength, validation of our proposition, and confirmation of our leadership in voice communication solutions,” Mr Healy said.

Deutsche Telekom is best known in the US for its mobile arm, T-Mobile, and is one of the worldwide leading telecommunication companies with over Euros61 billion revenue (A$100 billion) in 2006.

For more Open CeBIT news, click here.

News Corp dips into Photobucket

TRADITIONAL media giant News Corporation has furthered bolstered its internet ambitions, acquiring media-sharing site Photobucket for about US$300 million (A$362 million).

News said the acquisition, made through Fox Interactive Media (FIM), meant theat users of FIM’s other user-generated content property MySpace could access Photobucket’s photo and video technologies.

Now owning MySpace and Photobucket, News now controls two of the largest, most trafficked social networking and user content sites in the world. MySpace boasts about 200 million users, while Photobucket has attracted more than 44 million.

Fox Interactive president Peter Levinsohn said Photobucket also would be able to incorporate advanced slideshow generators and other editing tools from Flektor, which Fox Interative also acquired this week.

“Together, they represent a powerful combination and we are thrilled for them to join our network,” Mr Levinsohn said.

Photobucket chief executive and co-founder Alex Welch said the acquisition would not change anything in the day to day operations of the company, which he said would operate as a standalone company within FIM.

The acquisition would deliver Photobucket the resources of Fox Interactive, enabling it to deliver new tools faster.

“We plan to continue developing innovative tools that enhance self-expression and give you the best media sharing, linking and searching experience on the Web,” Mr Welch wrote in the company blog.

“Partnering with FIM will give us added resources and support to deliver on this vision, as well as the ability to offer new features for you -- our most important audience,” he said.

For more Digital Content news, click here.

Ballmer quietly greases government wheels

WHENEVER a Great White Chief’s corporate jet descends into Australian airspace after the long flight from their US headquarters, you can be sure they’ve got government on their mind.

It’s a well worn path. Once every two or three years, if you head an American IT giant, all roads lead to Canberra.

And so it was with Microsoft’s larger-than-life chief executive Steve Ballmer quietly slipped into Australia last week.

It was as low a profile visit to Australia as is possible for a Microsoft chief to make.

The IT press were unhappy that Ballmer wasn’t being made available for a press conference (nor the fact that they were locked out of an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, among other events).

Microsoft’s PR tried hard to throw the media a bone, issuing a statement to say the company had signed a meaningless agreement with the Department of Defence.

Talk about slim pickings … the agreement was so meaningless that a parliamentary secretary was wheeled out to sign it. Good grief! Now that’s a sure-fire strategy for keeping the general media’s interest in the boss’s visit at sub-coma level.

Still, these visits are all about the private meetings – not the public ones. Ballmer met the Prime Minister, yawn (the PM has not been a supporter of this industry). And he met Kevin Rudd, presumably to talk about the latest polling data.

Much more interesting was news that the Microsoft chief met with Health Minister Tony Abbott and with a group of state Government chief information officers.

In the next five years, Health is going to deliver a motherload of business to the IT sector. In Europe, the health sector has become the focus of some of the biggest IT projects ever undertaken in the public sector.

In Australia, after many false starts, governments are trying to use IT to reduce the administrative burden in the health sector. They believe the cost savings will be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Including the health and welfare smartcard, these health IT projects in the next several years in Australia will be some of the biggest and most complex ever undertaken in this country.

There is nothing like the Great White Chief coming to town to get you in front of the right people.

For more Business Software and e-Government news, click here.

Apple to deliver YouTube to TV

APPLE has signed a deal with Google’s YouTube unit that will deliver the internet video catalog to television screens via the Apple TV set-top box.

Starting this month, Apple TV will wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube and play them on a user’s widescreen TV. Using Apple TV’s interface and Apple Remote, viewers can browse, find and watch free videos from YouTube in the comfort of their living room.

“This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun,” said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

“YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the Internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room,” Mr Jobs said.

Thousands of the current and popular YouTube videos would be available on Apple TV at launch, with YouTube adding thousands more each week until the full YouTube catalog is available.

Naturally, nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and pundits are already saying Apple may find itself in the middle of the copyright row between YouTube and a host of content providers.

In March, media giant Viacom (owners of MTV and a host of other media properties) sued YouTube for US$1 billion for alledged breaches of copyright.

Viacom’s suit complains bitterly that YouTube did not adequately police what its users uploaded to the site – and consequently it content frequently breached the copyright of others.

Apple also launched this week its iTunes Plus service, which allows music downloads that have no copy-protection that limits how consumers can use the songs. iTunes Plus features artists from EMI, which include Coldplay and The Rolling Stones.

For more Digital Content news, click here.