News briefs related to Information Technology
Amazon to sell 'online access' to books
SEATTLE, WA, USA - Internet commerce giant Amazon.com said on November 3 that it was launching a program allowing consumers to purchase "online access" to books or to "any page, section, or chapter" of a book. The service, called Amazon Pages, enables Internet users to "simply and inexpensively purchase and read online just the pages they need" of a book. A second program, Amazon Upgrade, allows customers to "upgrade" the purchase of a physical book on Amazon.com to include online access.
It said that the program builds on existing technology that allows customers to search text inside a book before purchasing it. "In collaboration with our publishing partners, we're working hard to make the world's books instantly accessible anytime and anywhere," said Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com.
BT buys Irish Cara Group
LONDON - British telecoms operator BT Group said on November 3 that it had agreed to buy Cara Group of Ireland, in a move that will bolster its Irish IT services division and "create one of the largest networked IT services companies in Ireland", BT said in a statement. BT Global Services, which offers IT and networking consulting to businesses, has bought a string of businesses in the United States and Europe over the past year, including Radianz, Infonet and Albacom.
Ex-Microsoft vet quits Oracle after four months
NEW YORK, NY, USA - Oracle Corp. said on November 3 that Gregory Maffei would step down as co-president and chief financial officer at the second largest US software firm just four months after moving from archrival Microsoft. "My resignation from Oracle is not a reflection on the company, its executives or employees," Maffei said in a statement issued by the company from its headquarters in Redwood Shores, California.
Maffei was hired in late June and started in July after Oracle trumpeted the arrival of the industry veteran, who was Microsoft's chief financial officer in the late 1990s. The Wall Street Journal had reported that personality clashes may have played a part in the executive's decision. Goldman analyst Rick Sherlund said that Maffei had been away from his job for over two weeks. However, Oracle's fundamentals remain intact, Sherlund wrote in a note to clients. Another analyst said that Oracle's financial status is healthy. Oracle shares slipped over 2.2 percent to 12.20.
Neoware boosts 'thin' Africa sales force
CENTURION, South Africa - US software company Neoware is expanding its sales force in South Africa in order to capture a greater share of the thin-client market in the area. The Philadelphia-area firm is partnering with IT Wise in the sub-Saharan Africa market where thin-client computers operate with the lion's share of its security and several other applications run off of the server rather than the individual PC. The system has advantages in that PCs located in far-flung rural areas can be updated remotely. Neoware said that its solutions can make thin users virtually immune from viruses and allow server administrators to oversee large numbers of users more easily.
World semiconductor sales up 5 percent
SAN JOSE, CA, USA - World semiconductor sales grew more than 5 percent in September as demand remained robust and driven by brisk markets for mobile phones and personal computers. The Semiconductor Industry Association said that sales grew to $19.6 billion in September, a 5.2-percent increase over the $18.6 billion recorded in August. The association said that sales for the entire year were on a trajectory to reach $226 billion.
Mobile phone users to double in Azerbaijan
BAKU - Azerbaijan's government expects the number of mobile phone users in the country to double to nearly 4 million by 2008 from 1.8 million currently. Nearly all of the mobile subscribers in the oil-rich nation get their service from Azercell Telecom TV.
Pakistan scrubs sale of stake in telecom
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has canceled the sale of controlling interest in its state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication (PCTL) to Etisalat. Etisalat, based in the UAE, failed to pay the $2.4 billion payment that was due on October 28 and would have given Etisalat a 26-percent stake in PCTL plus management rights. There was no comment on the matter from Etisalat.
Analysts told the Financial Times that Etisalat apparently decided that it had overpaid for PTCL after its winning bid came in well over the second-place offer and had sought to either use its shares as loan collateral or sell some of them on the open market. PTCL is still considered a tempting takeover target due to the healthy telecom market in Southeast Asia.
Spy camera reveals customers' age, gender
TOKYO - Customers stopping to gaze at the store window may soon be less anonymous than they think - the store will instantly know their age and gender. Japanese bikemaker Yamaha Motor has unveiled a camera system that recognizes if a person is a man or woman and puts them into one of five age groups. "We think this system is suited to marketing," said Makoto Yoshida, Yamaha Motor's advanced system research division supervisor.
"This could be used at entrances and gates to some facilities or set up at eye-catching spots to profile those who entered the places or stared at them," Yoshida said on November 2. Yamaha designed the system by building up a computer database of 10,000 people's faces.
Ailing Sanyo downgraded by S and P
TOKYO - Japanese electronics maker Sanyo was downgraded on November 2 by Standard and Poor's ratings agency as the company's profits sink on declining prices of home appliances. The agency lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings to "BBB-" from "BBB" and said that it could be downgraded further if Sanyo does not improve. The Sanyo group said it will stop selling loss-making traditional DVD players and videocassette recorders and focus on next-generation DVD players and rear-projection and cathode-ray tube televisions instead. Sanyo has been trying to reinvent itself as prices for appliances and electronics sink.
Yahoo! under threat for aiding human rights abuse
HONG KONG - A Hong Kong media organization was hopeful on November 2 that action might still be taken against Yahoo! for handing over e-mail data that led to a reporter's jailing in China. The Hong Kong holding company of Yahoo! was internationally condemned for handing to Chinese investigators in April e-mail account details that led to Shi Tao's arrest and imprisonment for 10 years.
Shi, 37, who wrote for Hunan-based Contemporary Business News, was convicted of using his e-mail account to post on the Internet a government order barring Chinese media from marking the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Yahoo! claims that it was simply complying with local laws.
First paperless Internet daily launched in Czech Republic
PRAGUE - The first Czech online daily without a paper edition, Aktualne.cz, was launched overnight on October 31, its publishers announced on November 1. Director of mainstream portal Centrum.cz, Ondrej Tomek, said that the publication compiled by reputed journalists aimed to become the leader in the sector.
The founders believe that the initial investment of 35 million korunas ($1.41 million) will be recouped within a year, with 90 percent of the magazine's revenues coming from advertising. Aktualne.cz had potential considering about 3.6 million Czechs, one-third of the population, were regular Internet users, said the English-language Czech Business Weekly. Also, Internet advertising in the country was expected to grow 30 percent to 500 million korunas next year, analysts said.
Apple claims 1mn iTune video sales
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Apple Computer Inc. on October 31 announced it had sold more than 1 million videos from its online iTunes music store since launching the image download service less than three weeks ago. The video library was unveiled on October 12 when tech-innovator Apple launched its iPod portable video player that can screen music videos and hit television shows for fans on the move.
Video iPod owners can download and buy over 2,000 music videos, short films from Pixar Animation Studios as well as hit television programs under a landmark tie up with Walt Disney Co. "Selling 1 million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads," said Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.
Britain's BT snaps up small IT company
LONDON - British telecoms operator BT Group said on October 31 that it had bought technology group Total Network Solutions (TNS) for an undisclosed sum. The telecoms giant said that the acquisition of small peer TNS would strengthen its position as a leading provider of IT networks.
Brit IT firms team up to offer live TV on mobile phones
LONDON - A quarter of a million subscribers to Vodafone's third-generation (3G) telecommunications service will be able from November 1 to watch on their mobiles live news and sports provided by satellite broadcaster BSkyB, the two British groups announced on October 31. Vodafone currently has more than 250,000 3G subscribers in Britain, who will have free access to Sky Mobile TV until January 31, after which time it will cost five pounds ($8.88) per month for each of two packages, comprising a total of 19 channels. Package one offers mainly news and factual programming, while the other entertainment shows, including movies and cartoons.
Bulgaria grants high-speed wireless licenses at record price
SOFIA - Bulgaria granted on October 31 three licenses for high-speed broadband wireless "point-to-multipoint" networks for slightly more than 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion), the national communications regulator said in a statement. The three licenses were awarded to the Bulgaria fixed-line monopoly operator, Bulgarian Telecommunications Company, and to two other operators, Nexcom Bulgaria and Orbitel.
Point-to-multipoint wireless broadband networks support internet, video, voice or data transmission at high speeds, ranging from 128 kilobits a second to 34 megabits a second, via radio frequencies. They offer an alternative way of reaching clients in remote areas lacking cable networks.
Infineon strike ends
MUNICH, Germany - German semi-conductors giant Infineon said on October 31 that management and unions had reached an agreement that would end an indefinite strike at the group's factory in Munich-Perlach. The strike, staged in protest at plans to close the plant in 2007, has effectively caused the factory to come completely to a standstill for a week.
Iran satellite sent aloft
TEHRAN - An Iranian communications and imagery satellite has been launched into space atop a Russian rocket. The satellite, the first for Iran, is part of a joint operation with the Russians and carried British, Russian and Chinese satellites. The Iranian Sina-1 satellite has the Iranian flag and a map, which shows the Persian Gulf, painted on it, IRNA said. It weighs 170 kilograms and is equipped with two cameras. IRNA indicated that in addition to communications, it would be used to study natural disasters, resources and farmlands.
Fire destroys key UK computer lab
LONDON - One of Britain's top university laboratories for electronics and computer science, at the University of Southampton in southern England, was completely destroyed on October 30 by a fire, police said. The cause of the massive blaze, at the university's optoelectronics research lab, was not immediately known, but police said that it could have been caused by gas cylinders used at the facility. There was no suggestion of foul play.
S. Africa taps phones, e-mails
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has promulgated a new law allowing the tapping of telephones and e-mails to fight "serious violent crimes", including cash heists, a government official said on October 30. The law, however, can only be enforced after a specially appointed judge gives the green signal for such action, Lesley Mashokwe, spokesman in the justice ministry told the SAPA news agency. "The act ... seeks to address the alarming increase in computer-aided crime and the exploitation of technological advances," said Mashokwe.
Citizen Watch in China
TOKYO - Japan's Citizen Watch has built a plant in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou at a cost of two billion yen ($17.3 million) to make glass substrates used in hard disks. The watch manufacturer plans to produce small glass substrates measuring 1.8 inches (4.6 centimeters) or smaller starting in November, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper reported on October 30. The firm expects strong demand for the substrates for use in hard disks installed in portable music players, thin notebook computers and mobile phones.
More arrests in Spain over DVDs
MADRID - Spain's interior ministry said on October 29 that police had arrested 13 more Chinese in a crackdown on pirated DVDs and CDs that already netted 69 suspects earlier this week. The swoop is the biggest so far in Spain against piracy. It said that three of those arrested, named as Yi Dong Han, Zhixionh Xu and Zhubao Dong, were alleged to have been behind a concerted effort to flood the Spanish market with pirated music and films from their base in the Madrid suburbs. Police discovered a total of 261 DVD recorders capable of churning out more than 1 million copies a month, along with 265,000 discs, false passports and $6,500 in cash.
Two arrested for hate messages, Islamic propaganda in Switzerland
GENEVA - A 27-year-old Algerian and a 41-year-old Moroccan were arrested on October 28 on suspicion of using the computer system at the University of Geneva to spread propaganda about Islamist militant groups over the Internet. The two suspects were known to have used the university's computers thanks to a code that a student had negligently left lying around. A journalist for the German-language newspaper Weltwoche who graduated from the university in Geneva said that the computer system was being used to send hate messages and to make excuses for Islamist terrorist attacks.
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