11 March 2009
Lord Carter lays out digital plan
Lord Carter has been answering questions from MPs, including ones about the current YouTube versus PRS rights row. Facing the Business Committee about his Digital Britain report, Lord Carter said new models of paying for content were inevitable in the digital world. He also reassured MPs that universal broadband would be a reality in the UK by 2012 – albeit using public money.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7934990.stm
Carriers to strike gold with mobile money services
To date, predictions that the mobile phone will one day replace the humble leather wallet have gone largely unfounded, despite a growing number of mobile payment and banking services being made available worldwide. But analyst house Informa Telecoms & Media predicts a 12 fold increase in global transaction values in just five years, driven by the adoption of mobile money services in both emerging and mature markets. By 2013, the analyst predicts that almost 300 billion transactions, worth more than US$860bn, will be conducted using a mobile phone.
http://www.telecoms.com/itmgcontent/tcoms/news/articles/20017626300.html
Microsoft calls Yahoo to the negotiating table
Microsoft’s chief operating officer has called on Yahoo to come to the negotiating table to discuss how the pair might team up to take on Google. Kevin Turner said in an interview with The Times that Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz should begin talks with Microsoft over forming some kind of alliance. He did not suggest a full buyout, but made it clear that a smaller deal could be possible.”They have a new chief executive, and she’s formulating her business plans,” said Turner. “We have certainly made her and the Yahoo board aware that if they are ever interested in an opportunity to partner on search, we would like to sit down and at least have the conversation. It has to make economic sense to both parties.”
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2238114/microsoft-calls-yahoo
ID fraud malware hit 10 million users
More than 10 million internet users worldwide were hit with identity fraud-related malware last year, according to a new estimate from Panda Security. The number of computers infected with active programs designed to steal personally identifiable or financial information that can be used for identity fraud, such as Trojans for stealing bank account information, rose by 800 per cent from the first half of the year to the second half, the study found.
http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/future-proofing/id-fraud-malware-hit-10-million-users-2008-39405892.htm
Nintendo and Activision sweep gaming BAFTAs
Shocking news from the British Academy of Film and Television arts this week, with not one BAFTA awarded to Rockstar’s magnum opus Grand Theft Auto 4 at this year’s gaming awards ceremony in London’s swanky Park Lane Hilton last night. Instead, it was Nintendo and Activision walking away with all the glory this year, with the Academy’s praise being heaped on Call of Duty 4 and Super Mario Galaxy.
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/nintendo-and-activision-sweep-gaming-baftas-580359
The Sizzling Sound of Music
Are iPods changing our perception of music? Are the sounds of MP3s the music we like to hear most? Jonathan Berger, professor of music at Stanford, tests his incoming students each year. He has them listen to a variety of recordings which use different formats from MP3 to ones of much higher quality. He described the results with some disappointment and frustration, as a music lover might, that each year the preference for music in MP3 format rises. In other words, students prefer the quality of that kind of sound over the sound of music of much higher quality. He said that they seemed to prefer “sizzle sounds” that MP3s bring to music. It is a sound they are familiar with.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/the-sizzling-sound-of-music.html
