A regularly updated column of IT related briefs
Sega Sammy profits dive on weak slot machine sales
TOKYO - Japanese game company Sega Sammy said July 28 that its net profit dived almost 93 percent in the June quarter, hit by a major downturn in sales of its 'pachinko' slot machines. Net earnings dropped to 779 million yen ($6.75 million) in the fiscal first quarter from 10.70 billion yen a year earlier as revenue fell 14.8 percent to 85.62 billion yen.
The firm was created in a 2004 marriage between Sammy, the maker of 'pachinko' slot machines played in noisy parlors across Japan, and videogame-maker Sega. A Pachinko spokesman attributed the downturn to a lack of major new product launches during the period.
BSkyB records drop in annual net profit
LONDON - British satellite broadcaster BSkyB reported July 28 a 5-percent drop in net profit during 2005-2006, but offered a positive outlook owing to "strong demand" for its new services. BSkyB is looking to grow its business following the launch of high-definition television and broadband Internet services.
The company, led by James Murdoch, son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, saw its subscriber base climb above 8 million during the year to June 30. However, net profit fell to £551 million ($1.024 billion), compared with £578 million a year earlier.
Fuji Photo's profits hit by restructuring costs
TOKYO - Japan's Fuji Photo Film said July 28 that its net profit plunged by more than two-thirds in the June quarter due to the cost of restructuring in response to the industry shift to digital photography. Net profit slumped 69.9 percent to 4.81 billion yen ($41.66 million) in the fiscal first quarter compared with a year earlier, the world's number two photo film maker said in a statement.
The company attributed the sharp fall in earnings to restructuring costs and a slump in its sales of color films and digital mini-lab products as demand for making prints is declining.
Amazon considers Japan online shopping mall
TOKYO - Internet giant Amazon said July 26 that it was considering expanding in Japan from books to an all-out online shopping mall, following the example of its US parent company. If carried out, Amazon would be the latest competitor to Japan's online mall pioneer Rakuten, which has rapidly grown since its birth in 1997 but now faces tough competition from Yahoo Japan. Amazon Japan already sells a limited number of goods other than books, such as household appliances, but deals only in products that it has procured rather than direct sales from other retailers.
Flat TV sales boost profits at Japan's Matsushita
TOKYO - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., maker of the Panasonic brand, said July 26 that strong demand for plasma televisions and digital cameras lifted its net profit by 7.1 percent in the quarter to June. Net profit reached 35.83 billion yen ($306.4 million) on revenue of 2.14 trillion yen, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier, the Osaka-based company said in a statement.
Operating profit jumped 41.5 percent to 65.12 billion yen as rising revenue and cost-cutting efforts helped counterbalance the negative impact of intense global price competition and rising raw material costs. "The company expects a severe environment to persist in the second quarter of fiscal 2007 with continuing price declines caused by intensified price competition and increases in crude oil and other raw material prices," the group said.
Competition keeps Seiko Epson in red
TOKYO - Japanese computer equipment maker Seiko Epson Corp said July 26 that it remained deep in loss in the quarter to June due to fierce competition for ink-jet printers. However, the company said that it was still counting on bouncing back into the black for the full year as it overhauls the business. The group made a net loss of 5.68 billion yen ($48.58 million) in the fiscal first quarter, down slightly from a loss of 7.05 billion yen a year earlier, as revenue fell 5.3 percent to 322.04 billion yen.
At the operating level, however, the group managed to swing back to a profit of 7.01 billion yen from a loss of 5.04 billion yen as it pushed ahead with plans to slash costs and 3,000 jobs over three years. "The ink-jet printer market remained strong in Asia, while demand in Japan, the US, and Europe was sluggish," the company said, noting that a trend toward multi-functional all-in-one ink-jet products had continued.
Yahoo and Symantec allies in Internet security service
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - US Internet search engine Yahoo and software security giant Symantec Corporation launched a joint service July 25 to protect people online from hackers, viruses, spyware, and spam. Norton Internet Security provided by Yahoo was billed by the companies as an all-in-one security service that blocked intruders, identity thieves, and malicious software. The alliance enabled Yahoo to ease user concerns about vulnerabilities online while promoting Symantec's Norton security software to hundreds of millions of people that use Yahoo.
Yahoo members would get a discounted annual subscription of $49 and be able to try the service for the first 30 days free, according to the companies. Other co-branded security offerings included a Norton Spyware Scan function designed to remove such unwanted software from computers will soon be available for Yahoo browser window toolbar. Norton antivirus and firewall services would be made available by Yahoo to broadband Internet users in Britain and other regions, according to the companies.
Indian firm buys Finnish wireless company for $46.1mn
BANGALORE, India - An Indian technology firm said July 26 it has acquired a Finnish wireless company, Botnia Hightech Oy, in an all-cash deal worth 35.5 million euros ($46.15 million). Sasken Communications Technologies said it acquired Botnia which provides wireless research and development and testing services to mobile handset vendors.
The Finnish firm, with 230 employees, clocked revenues of 17.7 million euros in the last financial year to April 2006. The acquisition helps Sasken to have a presence in Finland. The Indian firm has global development centers in Mexico, China and in India.
Nigerian anti-graft agency tightens noose on corruption, targets cybercafés
LAGOS - Nigeria's anti-graft agency EFCC has further tightened its noose on corruption warning Internet cybercafe operators July 25 that they risked 20 years imprisonment if they abetted financial scams. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in an official statement, reminded the general public, and cybercafe operators in particular that the 'Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Fraud Offences Act, 2006' was already in force.
The act, the EFCC said, "places certain obligations on banks and other financial and designated non-financial institutions ... Internet service providers, cybercafe operators, property owners, and transporters." "The act stipulates very stiff punishment including but not limited to jail terms of up to 20 years without option of fine for convicts under the act," the statement said.
New look for Internet Weblog tracker Technorati
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Online journal tracker Technorati unveiled its revamped Website on July 24 as the worldwide "blogosphere" continued to expand at a stunning rate. Technorati overhauled its Website devoted to tracking blogs - multimedia journals kept online and shared with others via the Internet - to mark its third anniversary, according to the San Francisco company. "The new version of the site is designed to make the exponentially growing universe of citizen media, including blogs, Internet video, and photos, more accessible to everyday users," Technorati said. The number of Weblogs in the "global blogosphere" doubles every five months, according to Technorati data.
NHN sets up in US
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - South Korea's top online videogame Website announced plans July 24 to become a player in the US market this year. NHN Corp. revealed that it discreetly set up shop in Mountain View, California, the home turf of Internet juggernaut Google, and planned to roll out game and search services targeted at computer users 18 to 34 years old. "Our plan is to become a major player worldwide, so getting a foothold in the United States is a critical step for NHN," said the company's global chief executive officer Kim Beom-Su.
Microsoft releases test version of new Exchange Server software
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Microsoft July 24 released test versions of its Exchange Server 2007 e-mail managing software and a security package designed to complement it. The Redmond, Washington, computer software behemoth expected to have fine-tuned final versions of Exchange Server 2007 and Forefront Security for Exchange on the market by early next year. Exchange Server 2007 improves security, privacy, and efficiency for the program, which is used to manage e-mail and calendars, according to Microsoft. Test versions of Exchange Server 2007 can be downloaded from Microsoft Websites.
Lagos' computer market promises to 'clean up'
LAGOS - A bustling computer market in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, on July 24 was allowed to stay in business after pledging to dispose of its dangerous waste properly, traders and officials said. "We have resolved the problem with the government. The market is in full session now," John Oboro, assistant general secretary of Computers and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), said. Lagos environment commissioner Tunji Bello, for his part, said: "The dealers have met us with a promise to do the right thing. We are giving them the benefit of the doubt."
The Ikeja computer market trades mostly in imported secondhand computers, prompting fears of health and environmental hazards because of substances contained in them such as lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and brominated flame-retardants. Last week, Bello gave the traders seven days to clean up the market or face indefinite closure.
Japanese mobile knows more about your life
TOKYO - For those who relish looking back on the small, often inconsequential details of their lives, a Japanese company has come up with a "Big Brother" mobile network that makes up where human memory fails. Japan's number two telecom operator KDDI Corp said July 24 that it had developed a server that keeps a record of the smallest events in a person's electronic life and lets others sift through them. "Lifelog Pod" jots down every activity a person makes through a cellphone or computer, including taking photographs, reading barcodes, searching for a restaurant, listening to music, organizing travel, or managing money.
Users can learn whom else their friends chat to or delve through their companions' data, except for areas protected by passwords, to gauge their interests. However, KDDI Corp. does not plan yet to commercialize the "Lifelog" server. "This is just to let people know that we are able to develop this kind of technology," a spokesman said.
Text speak changing relationships
LONDON - Mobile phone text messages are changing the way that people approach romantic relationships, according to a survey published on July 24 in the British newspaper The Times. More than half of mobile phone users aged 18 to 24 have sent or received an invitation to a date via text message, while a similar number have exchanged sexually-explicit messages, the study by the London School of Economics showed.
Just more than half agreed that flirting via text message would be a form of cheating on their partner. "It acts as a kind of subliminal zone, an exclusive forum where the normal social rules are suspended," said Kate Fox, director of the Social Issues Research Center. "People often say things in texts which they would never say in 'real life'."
Vodafone calls up 4.5mn extra customers in first quarter
LONDON - British mobile phone giant Vodafone reported on July 24 that it had attracted 4.5 million new customers during the first quarter of its financial year. The increase was about 500,000 more than market expectations, while the company's purchase of Telsim, the second-biggest Turkish mobile telephone operator, gave Vodafone an additional 11.7 million customers. As a result, Vodafone's subscriber base soared 13.2 percent to 186.8 million people during the three months to June 30, compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year, it announced.
Vodafone, which has issued three profit warnings since November 2005, said that in view of its investment in fast-growing markets, it could repeat its financial targets for 2006/2007.
Anti-hijack software under development
BERLIN - Some 30 European businesses and research institutes are working to create software that would make it possible from a distance to regain control of an aircraft from hijackers, according to a German news magazine. The system "which could only be controlled from the ground would conduct the aircraft posing a problem to the nearest airport whether it liked it or not," according to extracts from Der Spiegel released on July 22. "A hijacker would have no chance of reaching his goal," it said.
The project costs €36 million ($45 million), of which the European Commission is contributing €19.5 million, and involves aircraft maker Airbus, electronics giant Siemens, and the Technical University of Munich. The first results should be presented in Britain in October, the magazine said.
Google tool bar seekers tricked into downloading computer virus
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Computer hackers built a fake Google Tool Bar Website to trick people into downloading a malicious program that could turn machines into "zombies," a US Internet security firm said on July 21. E-mails containing Internet links to the bogus Website and invitations to download Google tool bar software began circulating this week, according to SurfControl of northern California. The phony Website was a replica of the real one provided by the Internet search juggernaut based in Mountain View, California, SurfControl said.
Instead of the promised tool bar software, the site duped people into downloading a "Trojan," malicious computer coding hidden inside a seemingly harmless offering, according to SurfControl. The "malware" was designed to let hackers take control of infected computers via the Internet, SurfControl said.
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