US: small internet providers choose Wi-Fi to fight big providers

In the US., with cable providers and the Bell telephone companies dominating the market for residential high-speed internet service, smaller internet access providers are desperately trying to find a new way to connect with consumers, according to a report in The New York Times (31 October). They may have found it in wireless technology that avoids the need to build expensive underground networks, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper says that the most prominent example is EarthLink, once a leader in dial-up internet service. The company made a big leap into the wireless market this month when it won the right from Philadelphia to provide inexpensive Wi-Fi internet connections citywide. Last week, the company also won an exclusive franchise to build a wireless network for the city of Anaheim, California, the newspaper reports.

According to the NYT., the wireless option is attractive because it does not require building or leasing costly underground lines, and the cost of wi-fi equipment and installation is falling rapidly, said Donald B. Berryman, president of a new division of EarthLink, called EarthLink Municipal Networks.

As part of the agreement with Philadelphia, EarthLink obtained public rights-of-way to build a wireless network covering the city's 135 square miles. The company will pay the construction costs, which Mr. Berryman said could be as little as US$10 million, compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars EarthLink would have to spend to lay copper or fiber cables for a conventional broadband network.

The newspaper says that EarthLink is not alone in betting on Wi-Fi. Many smaller telecommunications players are bidding for Wi-Fi contracts with big cities like Minneapolis and New York, which are eager to attract new businesses, give residents alternatives to the cable and phone companies and make it possible for lower-income residents to get an internet link.

The report also says that, in smaller cities like Grand Haven, Michigan and Rio Rancho, New Mexico, start-ups like Azulstar Networks have struck out on their own, obtaining right-of-way agreements. In San Francisco, Google is considering building a free citywide network. Google would make money by selling advertising that reached the Wi-Fi users.

{mospagebreaktitle=European telco action:Spain's Telefonica to buy O2}European telco action:Spain's Telefonica to buy O2

In Europe, O2 has agreed to be bought by Telefonica for £18bn as the Spanish telco looks to expand its operations into UK and Germany.

The Register reports (31 October) that mobile outfit O2 - which split from BT in 2001 - will retain its bubbly brand and keep its HQ in the UK. If all goes to plan and the deal get the thumbs up from regulators, it should be all wrapped up early next year.

But industry watchers are already casting doubt on the deal by suggesting that the tie-up could spark rival bids from other operators, according to The Register.

The publication says that most recently O2 has been named as a possible take-over target for Dutch outfit KPN and German giant Deutsche Telekom, and it may be that today's announcement will be enough to flush out a rival offer.

Still, that's all in the future, claims The Register. The publication says that, for now, Telefonica reckons that the buyout will give it greater presence in Europe's largest market - Germany and the UK - while delivering costs savings of around £200m a year.

The Register also claims that it isn't exactly a secret to anybody who has watched the routine visits between O2 directors and Telefonica that the Spanish telecoms giant has been reluctantly courting the former BT subsidiary for a year or more, simply to keep the Spanish Government happy.

But now, says The Register,it has been forced to move by growing interest from Deutsche Telekom, and to buy O2 out under T-Mobile's nose.

According to The Register, the deal is a triumph for CEO Peter Erskine and will amaze insiders simply by virtue of the amount. The offer of 200 pence per O2 share represents a 22 per cent premium on what O2's share price would suggest.

The Register says that directors of O2 have been well aware that the Madrid Government was very keen to see Spanish commerce expand into the European Community at a time when most of the normal rivals are suffering from lean times and capital shortages, and are unable to compete.

{mospagebreaktitle=Samsung Elec to start new LCD line output}Samsung Elec to start new LCD line output

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of flat screens, will start producing liquid crystal display TV panels from its newest production line in April next year, the company has said.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (30 October) that analysts are concerned the LCD industry could face overcapacity next year as heavyweights like Samsung and LG.Philips, the world's No.2 player, ramp up output.

The South Korean firm concluded the pilot test of Line 7-2, the second manufacturing line adopting so-called ''seventh-generation'' motherglass measuring 1.87-by-2.2 meters, the company said in a statement.

The newspaper reports that the line will produce 45,000 substrates, from which eight 40-inch panels can be produced, per month starting April. Samsung has earlier said it would start mass production from the line in the first half of 2006.

It will boost production further in the second half to reach the line's full capacity of 90,000 substrates per month.

According to the NYT., Samsung, also the world's biggest memory chip maker, invested 4.13 trillion won on the second seventh-generation line.

{mospagebreaktitle=UK IT chief calls for downscaling of ID card plans}UK IT chief calls for downscaling of ID card plans

The Register claims in a 31 October report that in the UK., Whitehall IT chiefs may be poised to pull the rug from under the country's ID card scheme on the basis that the technology isn't ready for prime time, and the project too unfocussed to pass Whitehall risk assessments.

The publication says that, according to a report in the Independent on Sunday, Government CIO Ian Watmore has told ministers that the complexity and scale of the plan means that it may have to be phased in, while William Heath of Kable cites senior Whitehall sources as being on the brink of blocking the project.

{mospagebreaktitle=Samsung launching digital music download service}Samsung launching digital music download service

Samsung is to follow Apple and Sony and launch its own online content download service to promote its digital music players.

The Register reports (31 October) that the revelation was made on Friday by Choi Ji-Sung, the head of the company's digital media division, South Korean newspaper the Chosun Ilbo reports.

Choi said the service will be launched domestically and overseas shortly, though no firmer timetable was given.

The Register says that Choi gave no other details, but the service is likely to be founded on Windows Media technology, leaving Samsung competing against the likes of Napster, Virgin Digital, HMV and Yahoo! Music.

Choi indicated that the motivation behind the service's launch will be to allow the company to compete more effectively with Apple's iPod. Samsung's players, he said, are better than Apple's, though Apple has sold many, many more digital music devices than Samsung has, reports The Register.

 
{mospagebreaktitle=3G licensing complaints 'inaccurate, meritless'-Qualcomm}3G licensing complaints 'inaccurate, meritless'-Qualcomm

Qualcomm has dismissed allegations made about its WCDMA licensing policy by six mobile phone and component manufacturers as "factually inaccurate and legally meritless".

The Register reports (31 October) that last Friday, Nokia, NEC, Panasonic, Broadcom, Texas Instruments and Ericsson said they had reported Qualcomm to European Commission competition regulators. They claimed the company had reneged on commitments to offer technology it owns but which is part of the WCDMA 3G mobile phone standard on fair and non-discriminatory terms.

Qualcomm said it had not seen the specifics of the complaint, but claimed that on the basis of the six companies' announcement of the complaint, the allegations are unfounded.

The Register quotes the company as saying: "The accusation that Qualcomm has not lived up to its commitments to standard-setting organisations to license its essential patents on fair and reasonable terms is belied by the more than 130 licences Qualcomm has granted to a broad range of companies, among them five of the six reported claimants".

Qualcomm said it had already licensed its WCDMA technology to a number of chip makers, including Texas Instruments, NEC, Infineon, Philips

{mospagebreaktitle=Startup looks to online video}Startup looks to online video

The New York Times carries an Associated Press report (30 October) in which AP says that the internet is buzzing with amateur videos, the kind that feature kids lip-synching or imitating Jedi knights - but few, if any, make money.

However, reports AP., a new company called Revver is trying to change that by attaching advertising to the videos and giving the creators a cut of the profits.

The technology, which also tracks the content as it is shared across the web, is not limited to amateurs. Major media companies, which are just beginning to experiment with offering TV shows and movies online, are also looking for ways to distribute across peer-to-peer networks while avoiding piracy.

The AP report says that Revver is the brainchild of Ian Clarke, the man behind the Freenet file-sharing network; Steven Starr, a former Hollywood agent and co-creator of MTV's ''The State;'' and Oliver Luckett, who recently spearheaded the Norman Lear ''Declare Yourself'' voter registration campaign.

It is also backed by the same venture capital company that bankrolled internet phone provider Skype Technologies, which eBay recently acquired for US$2.6 billion.

AP says the three see an opportunity in the growing number of videos being produced by people with access to sophisticated photo and editing tools and viewed over high-speed internet connections.

According to AP., Apple Computer has been cataloging the work of video bloggers through its iTunes software. And Yahoo is betting on the concept of ''micropublishing'' -- letting the portal's users create content attractive to fellow users that will encourage people to hang around in Yahoo's virtual world. Another company, BrightCove Networks, is working on a way to deliver thousands of channels of video content online.

{mospagebreaktitle=Newspaper ad circulars online}Newspaper ad circulars online

Reading a newspaper online is much like reading one offline, but one thing is unmistakably missing from the web: when you log on, an advertising circular does not fall into your lap. Until now, that is, says The New York Times in an interesting article in the 31 October edition.

The newspaper reports that Gannett, one of the US's biggest newspaper publishers, said it would introduce a new service on its newspaper web sites next month that displays banner ads that readers can expand into a virtual version of the weekly local circulars so familiar to offline newspaper readers.

According to the NYT., industry executives said the service, called PaperBoy, devised by a unit of Gannett called PointRoll, would give national advertisers a way to reach online readers in local markets with promotions tied to neighborhood stores.

Newspapers are trying to protecting their turf from Google, Yahoo and other Internet companies that have moved more aggressively to serve local information and ads to readers, says the NYT.

"Newspapers are still in a relatively strong position if they can act, but the local initiatives by the search engines are a threat," said Greg Sterling, an analyst with the Kelsey Group, an advertising consultant.

{mospagebreaktitle=Bill Gates donates US$258m to fight malaria}Bill Gates donates US$258m to fight malaria}

Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has pledged US$258.3m (£145m) to the fight against malaria, describing the disease which claims the lives of an estimated 2,000 African children each day as a "forgotten epidemic".

The Register reports (31 October) that a trio of grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (https://www.gatesfoundation.org) will support research and development on a malaria vaccines, new drugs, and improved mosquito control methods.

According to The Register report, the Gates Foundation donation will support three projects over five years (as follows):

US$107.6m to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) to work with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and African investigators to complete testing and development of an anti-malaria vaccine candidate
US$100m to the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to work on anti-malaria drug research
US$50.7m to the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC), led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, to fast-track development of improved insecticides and other mosquito control methods

Each recipient of the Gates Foundation's grant has developed a plan to make its anti-malaria tools accessible and affordable for developing countries.

{mospagebreaktitle=Tagging the news you want to use}Tagging the news you want to use

Digg, a new San Francisco internet start-up, seeks to rank news items by letting people choose which stories they like anywhere on the web.

Silicon Valley's Mercury News reports that Digg just received US$2.8 million in venture capital from some big-name investors, including Omidyar Network, the outfit led by eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, and Greylock partners.

The Mercury reports that, relying on its audience to make submissions by ``digging'' news items -- similar to ``tagging'' -- Digg's software moves articles up the site based on how many ``diggs'' it gets. The company says it has 80,000 registered users who are allowed to ``digg,'' or select, articles (which can be anything online, from news stories, blogs, or commercial offerings). Those who don't register are able to view the ranked items. Digg says it has more than 500,000 daily visitors.

According to the newspaper, Digg is still largely focused on technology news, but it is building separate ranked lists for other types of news. It already has various sub-categories for technology, for example gaming or software.