A regularly updated column of IT related briefs
Philips trades chips for rebirth in medical technology
AMSTERDAM - Dutch electrical equipment giant Philips declared itself transformed into a healthcare and lifestyle technology business August 4, after announcing the sale of its semiconductor business for €8.3 billion. The divestment was a milestone, it said.
Philips chairman Gerard Kleisterlee said: "I see it as a defining moment in the more than 150-year history of the company. It is the completion of a transformation of a company."
The most important markets for Philips were now in healthcare and lifestyle, he said.
"With this step we are no longer a traditional electronics company," Kleisterlee said, explaining that the business wanted to move away from being a vertically integrated electronics company. Instead it wanted to focus more on being a healthcare and lifestyle technology company.
HarperCollins lets shoppers sample books electronically
NEW YORK, NY, USA - Readers can judge books by looking inside their covers, HarperCollins Publishers announced August 3, with the launch of a new Website service allowing them to sample book content online. The News Corporation unit calls its service "Browse Inside," which will let potential book buyers read a few pages of their titles over the Internet to decide if they like the work or not before purchasing it.
The first 10 featured authors will include Michael Crichton, Paulo Coelho, and Isabel Allende. Within one year 10 more will be added, the publisher said. The program allows users to read six pages of Allende's novel Zorro, while just four pages of the same book are offered at leading Internet retailer Amazon.com's similar "Search Inside" feature. "We want to reach consumers wherever they are, however they wish to experience our authors and their words," said Jane Friedman, president of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide.
Microsoft stumbles rolling out revamped Weblog service
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Microsoft was trying to make amends August 3 to bloggers irked by problems with a revamped social networking service that the US computer software giant rolled out this week. Windows Live Spaces stumbled after being launched late August 1, Microsoft wrote in a contrite Weblog posting. "We know we disappointed a bunch of you," the Microsoft posting read. "We planned long and hard for this release and unfortunately it was one of those gotchas that only showed up once we were in production."
Bloggers unhappy with Live Spaces, the successor to MSN Spaces, had opened fire on Microsoft on its own site. "Honestly, none of my friends who use MSN Space likes the new release of Spaces Live," a user with the Weblog name 'snowzboy' wrote in the Spaces Live string of postings topped by Microsoft's apology. "It's just too bad. Sorry." Microsoft wrote that it scrambled this week to get Spaces Live "in much better shape," but that there were still things in need of fixing. Some bloggers urged their peers to give Microsoft credit for improvements to the service and allow the Redmond, Washington, company time to fix the "glitches."
Auto makers, Apple team up to make iPod-friendly cars
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Mazda, General Motors, and Ford Motor Company have teamed up with Apple Computer to build iPod-friendly cars and trucks, the maker of the world's top-selling MP3 players SAID AUGUST 3. All 2007 model year vehicles offered worldwide by Ford subsidiary Mazda Motors Corp. will allow passengers to easily connect iPods to the radios, Apple said in a release. Similar iPod compatibility will feature in the majority of 2007-model Ford and General Motors cars and trucks for sale in the United States by the end of this year, according to Apple.
"We're delighted," said Greg Joswiak, Apples vice-president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. "Now more than 70 percent of 2007-model US automobiles will offer iPod integration, with General Motors alone making it available on all 56 of its models, representing millions of cars and trucks." Glove compartments have been modified to allow iPods to be plugged into vehicles' audio systems, the companies said. Car or truck radio controls were also adapted to pick and play songs from iPods, which will have their batteries charged while driving, according to Apple.
IBM opens European financial services centre in Portugal
LISBON - US technology giant IBM opened a center in Portugal last month to provide accounting and financial services to clients across Europe, an IBM Portugal spokeswoman said August 2. The center in the northern city of Braga employs 50 people who provide services to Anglo-Dutch consumer products group Unilever as part of a seven-year agreement signed with IBM in 2005, said spokeswoman Estela Viegas.
Telefonica wins license for third Slovak mobile operator
BRATISLAVA - Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica is to be the third mobile phone company on the Slovak market, Slovak Telecommunications spokesman, Roman Vavro, announced on August 2. Telefonica arrives after French company Orange and German-Slovak T-Mobile and was chosen in preference to Austrian company Mobilkom Austria and the Czech-Slovak consortium, B Four. According to local press reports, Telefonica paid about €4 million ($5.08 million) for the license, the lowest of the three offers.
Chinese Microsoft staff to attend Taiwan meeting
TAIPEI - Hundreds of Microsoft employees from China will attend a meeting in Taiwan later this month as local authorities prepare to allow in more Chinese visitors for business purposes, officials said August 2. "A total of 419 Microsoft Chinese employees will come here to attend its annual conference for the Greater China Area," said an official with Taiwan's China policy decision-making body, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). If realized, the group would become the single biggest Chinese group to travel to Taiwan, which is still technically at war with rival China.
MAC Chairman Joseph Wu told reporters August 1 that the council is reviewing existing measures governing Taiwanese visits by Chinese visitors for business purposes, which limit each group to up to 30 people.
Israel hacks into Hizbullah TV, broadcasts propaganda
BEIRUT - Israel August 1 hacked into the television station of Hizbullah, emblazoning images on the screen showing pictures of corpses and claiming that the Shia militant group's leader Hassan Nasrallah was a liar. One of the images shown on Al Manar television portrayed the body of a fighter lying face-down, wearing khaki trousers with a text beneath in Arabic reading: "This is the photograph of a body of a member of Hizbullah's special forces." "Nasrallah lies: it is not us that are hiding our losses," continued the text, which appeared during the evening news and stayed on the screen for several minutes.
Another photograph of corpses was framed by the words: "There are a large number of corpses like this on the ground and Nasrallah is hiding this truth." Israel also hacked into FM radio stations and instead of normal programs a two-minute recording was repeatedly broadcast. "Hassan sent men to fight the Israeli army, an army of steel, without preparing them. Stop listening to patriotic hymns for a moment, reflect and bring your feet back to the ground," said the Arabic message.
SingTel's mobile subscriber base tops 92mn
SINGAPORE - Strong growth in India and Indonesia helped push Singapore Telecommunications' regional mobile phone user base above 92 million at the end of June, Southeast Asia's biggest phone company said August 2. The company said that it added 7.4 million mobile phone subscribers in the three months to June compared with the previous quarter, the highest increase in its history.
On a year-on-year basis, SingTel's mobile users rose 30 percent from 71 million. The bulk of the growth came at SingTel's associates, Bharti in India and Indonesia's Telkomsel, the company said.
Apple adds news and cartoons to iTunes online entertainment shop
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - Apple Computer's popular iTunes online entertainment shop has added CNN, Adult Swim, and Cartoon Network programs to its virtual shelves, the iPod maker said August 1. Turner Broadcasting Systems programs such as "Johnny Bravo," "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," and "CNN Presents" could be bought at iTunes and viewed on computers or iPods MP3 players, the companies announced.
Britain publishes terrorist threat level on Internet
LONDON - The government for the first time August 1 began publishing on the Internet on a permanent basis the level of threat that intelligence experts believe Britain faces from terrorist attacks. The government has come under pressure to be more transparent about the threat level in the wake of the July 7 terrorist attacks on London transport last year and an alleged bid to repeat the carnage two weeks later. The current state of alert was first published on new government Website www.intelligence.gov.uk, listing the level as "severe," which means that an attack is highly likely.
Justice Dept. posts 9/11 tapes on Web
ALEXANDRIA, VA, USA - The US Justice Department has posted exhibits from the trial of ZACARIAS MOUSSAOUI on the Web, including videotapes of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Both prosecution and defense exhibits are posted at vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits. Moussaoui, the only person to face criminal charges in the United States over the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, is serving a life-in-prison sentence. During a trial to determine whether he should be given the death penalty, prosecutors played often graphic tapes for the jury.
A French citizen from a Moroccan family, Moussaoui was arrested on immigration charges before the 2001 attacks because a flight school became suspicious of him. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and claimed to be part of a group that would have attacked the White House.
SanDisk buys Israeli flash-memory maker
MILPITAS, CA, USA - SanDisk Corp., the world's biggest maker of removable flash memory, is buying Israeli competitor msystems Ltd. in an all-stock deal worth about $1.55 billion. SanDisk said July 30 that the takeover of msystems, which specializes in flash memory that stays embedded in mobile telephones and other devices, would broaden its product mix. The companies hope to close the deal in the fourth quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approval and agreement by the Israeli courts.
Verizon launches telephone-music player mobile in the US
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA - A combination mobile telephone and MP3 digital music player made by South Korean LG Electronics was introduced to the US market July 31 by Verizon Wireless to challenge Apple's popular iPods. The LG "Chocolate" handheld had a color to match its name and a sleek design similar to that of the iPod, complete with circular navigation ring. The LG handhelds were to be on US store shelves by August 7, Verizon said.
Verizon sweetened the offering by eliminating the monthly subscription plan for its VCAST online music shop, which claimed to have a catalogue of 1.3 million songs. VCAST users will be able to pay per song or album the same way that Silicon Valley's Apple Computer charges for digital music downloads from its iTunes store on the Internet, according to Verizon, which is based in New York City.
Irish survey finds child abuse risk on Internet
DUBLIN - More than 10 percent of Irish children who had met someone that they had got to know on the Internet found that they were adults, pretending to be youngsters, who tried to harm them, a report released July 31 showed. The study of the online risk to children by the National Center for Technology in Education (NCTE) said that 11 percent of the children aged nine to 16 surveyed who met someone that they first encountered on the Internet said that their contact tried to "physically hurt them."
"Worryingly, in all the cases of physical and verbal abuse reported in the survey the children said that the person who introduced themselves to them on the Internet as a child, turned out to be an adult. There are individuals who will use online services to make contact with children in order to exploit them," according to the NCTE, an Irish government agency providing advice on the use of computers in education.
Telenor wins auction for Serbia's biggest mobile firm
BELGRADE - Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor won an auction July 31 for Serbia's biggest mobile operator Mobi 63 with a bid of €1.513 billion ($1.93 billion). Telenor saw off competition from Mobilkom Austria and Orascom Telecom of Egypt in the auction, which was televised live on state-run RTS television, for a 70-percent stake in Mobi 63.
With the winning bid, Telenor also secured a 10-year operating license to run Mobi 63, the company formerly named Mobtel that has an estimated 2 million subscribers. The Serbian government had selected the three to bid for Mobi 63 after eliminating seven other companies including France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, as well as firms from Abu Dhabi, Israel, Russia, and two from Sweden.
Japan's Pioneer returns to profit, upgrades outlook
TOKYO - Japanese audio and visual equipment maker Pioneer said July 31 that it returned to profit in the three months to June thanks to brisk sales of plasma displays, car stereos, and car navigation systems. The group dramatically upgraded its forecasts for the full-year on the back of strong fiscal first quarter. The group made a net profit of 5.66 billion yen ($49.5 million), reversing a loss of 5.34 billion yen a year earlier, and marking an improvement from a heavy annual loss made in the year to March.
Operating profit reached 7.08 billion yen after a loss of 8.93 billion yen a year ago while revenue rose 20.4 percent to 191.68 billion yen. Sales of plasma displays jumped 32 percent, driven by strong demand in Europe and the United States, Pioneer said. Restructuring of the business and a weaker yen also helped boost profits.
Malaysian minister calls for controls on Internet content
KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian minister called July 31 for controls on the Internet to check racial tensions in the mainly Malay Muslim nation. Information minister Zainuddin Maidin said that the government must exert control over Websites to stop what he called the spread of news based on rumors and articles with racial undertones, the state Bernama news agency reported. "In one aspect, the control on media content will boost credibility of a Website as the people will know the news published was accurate and no longer based on rumors," Zainuddin said.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week called for a halt to the discussion of religious issues that may cause ethnic strains, in an order seen as directed at the media. He also reportedly called on a coalition of activists called Article 11, which has been holding public forums on the country's constitution and freedom of religious practices, to stop holding meetings.
Court tells India to create Website on farmers' suicides
NEW DELHI - A provincial court has ordered Indian authorities to construct a Website aimed at halting a wave of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the western state of Maharashtra, a report said July 31. The Indian Express quoting orders of the Mumbai High Court said that the Website would contain information concerning farmers' suicides as well as aid packages being implemented by the authorities for those in debt. The Website was due to be online by next week, the daily said.
The court stepped in following complaints that a spree of suicides had not waned despite an economic package offered July 1 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to impoverished farmers in Maharashtra's cotton-growing belt. "It will have all details, right from list of farmers committing suicides to the stages of implementation of various [welfare] schemes, funds allocated and spent, number and names of beneficiaries," the report said.
Toshiba makes first-quarter profit on strong sales
TOKYO - Japan's Toshiba Corp. reported July 31 its first June quarter profit for four years on the back of strong sales of computers, mobile handsets, and memory chips for portable music players. Toshiba reported a net profit of 4.04 billion yen ($35.29 million) for the three months to June against a loss of 8.92 billion yen a year earlier.
It was the first positive result for Toshiba for a fiscal first quarter since the group started reporting quarterly results in late 2001. The company made an operating profit of 20.8 billion yen after a year-earlier loss of 1.9 billion as revenue increased 11.9 percent to 1.45 trillion yen, the company said.
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