Nokia, Motorola, Intel form alliance for mobile tv

Mobile phone giant Nokia has teamed up with other technology firms to promote the DVB-H technology standard for mobile TV, Nokia said on Monday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (23 January) that other firms in the alliance include Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments and Modeo, owned by Crown Castle International, Nokia said in a statement.

The tie-up, called the Mobile DTV Alliance, aims to encourage open standards for TV broadcasts to mobiles, focusing on the North American market.

Reuters says that DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) technology bypasses mobile networks and broadcasts directly to handsets from TV masts, allowing millions of phone users to access the service at the same time.

It also allows them to use interactive services and order ''on-demand'' programs via mobile networks, which operators hope will be a new source of income.

According to Reuters, mobile operators are keen to exploit the marriage of mobile phones and TV as revenues from voice calls fall because of competition and regulatory cuts to call charges.

The Mobile DTV Alliance said more than 10 DVB-H network trials are under way or have been completed, including in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States.

It said most major US markets are expected to have DVB-H infrastructure ready for use by 2007.

{mospagebreaktitle=Siemens, IBM to team up on internet telephony}Siemens, IBM to team up on internet telephony

German conglomerate Siemens and computer giant IBM are teaming up to offer internet phone calls launched directly from email or instant messaging applications, Siemens said on Monday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times that the two companies plan to embed Siemens HiPath softswitches for voice over internet protocol (VoIP) into IBM's Lotus Notes and Domino business software.

The result will be that customers will be able to launch phone calls and conferences with one click from their email, web conferencing or instant messaging sessions, Siemens said.

According to the Reuters report, Siemens added in a statement that the integrated features were expected to be available to customers by this summer.

IBM's head of software product management Ken Bisconti said in the statement: ``By working together with industry leaders such as Siemens we are opening up a new realm of possibilities for our customers, without having to replace their existing IT infrastructures.''

{mospagebreaktitle=IBM's customer chats}IBM's customer chats

IBM., whose secure messaging system is used within many large companies, said yesterday that its customers would soon be able to chat with instant messaging users from America Online, Yahoo and Google.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (24 January) that IBM said that by midyear it would allow its corporate instant messaging system, Lotus Sametime, to work with the three consumer platforms, the latest effort to break down barriers separating instant messaging audiences.

The new arrangement does not include Microsoft, the most direct rival of IBM in the corporate instant messaging world, where customers often demand that security be enhanced and that managers have the ability to audit what users write. Lotus Sametime counts 20 million users inside companies worldwide, including more than 25 companies with over 100,000 users apiece.

According to Reuters, IBM said 60 percent of the world's 100 largest companies use Sametime. By allowing corporate messaging systems to work with consumer versions of instant messaging, office workers will be able to communicate instantly with friends or family outside of work.

{mospagebreaktitle=US Supreme Court rejects BlackBerry patent appeal}US Supreme Court rejects BlackBerry patent appeal

Millions of BlackBerry users can now turn their attention back to a US federal court where the fate of the popular wireless e-mail device may be decided.

The Associated Press reports in The Mercury News (23 January) that after the Supreme Court chose on Monday not to intervene in the case, the resolution of the long-running battle over patents for the handheld device is up to US District Judge James R. Spencer.

Although the judge could impose an injunction and block BlackBerry use among many of its estimated 3 million owners in the United States, many analysts expect Research In Motion Ltd., the device's maker, to strike a deal with the patent-holder or introduce changes to work around the patents.

According to AP., even if Spencer orders a partial shutdown, analysts said, he is likely to give users 30 days or more to switch to competing companies that provide wireless e-mail service.

Lawyers for NTP., a small northern Virginia firm that says it owns the patent on the technology that makes the BlackBerry work, have said government and emergency workers would be exempt from any BlackBerry blackout. Others who have come to rely on the device -- such as lawyers, business travelers and brokers -- might be out of luck.

AP says that Research in Motion had asked the justices to weigh in to decide whether US patent law is technologically out of date in the age of the internet and the global marketplace.

At issue was how US law applies to technology that is used in a foreign country and allegedly infringes on the intellectual property rights of a patent-holder in the United States.

The report by AP says that RIM, a Canadian company, had contended it cannot be held liable for patent infringement because its main relay station for e-mail and data transmission is located in Waterloo, Ontario, outside US borders.

But a federal appeals court had found that the Canadian company had infringed on the patents held by NTP because customers use the BlackBerry inside US borders. The lower court said it did not matter where the relay station is located.

The judge in the case has set a 1 Feb. deadline for filings on whether he should issue an injunction.

{mospagebreaktitle=US govt.: Microsoft not quick enough to comply with settlement}US govt.: Microsoft not quick enough to comply with settlement

Microsoft is not complying quickly enough with its antitrust settlement with the government, the Bush administration said on Monday.

The Bloomberg News reports in The New York Times (24 January) that in a court filing, Justice Department lawyers said Microsoft was falling behind on providing technical information mandated by the settlement.

According to Bloomberg it was the government's strongest show of impatience with the company since the agreement was reached in 2001. In October, the judge overseeing the settlement, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Federal District Court in Washington, questioned the pace of Microsoft's efforts to develop tools to help rivals create software that runs smoothly on the Windows operating system. A month later, the judge said the company was making progress and seemed to be "back on track."

Bloomberg reports that in its latest court papers, the Justice Department said the company had fallen "significantly behind" in answering technical questions about its software. The administration had not previously complained that Microsoft was moving too slowly to fulfill its obligations under the settlement.

The company "needs to dramatically increase the resources devoted to responding" to the government's concerns, the court papers said.

The report in the NYT says that a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail message that "Microsoft is working hard to resolve the concerns raised" by the government and was committed to "expend whatever resources are necessary to address these issues."

The antitrust settlement was reached after a federal judge and an appeals court ruled that the company illegally protected its monopoly for the Windows operating system that runs about 95 percent of the world's personal computers.

Bloomberg reports that Microsoft said in October that its "Troika" project, aimed at ensuring that rivals' programs run smoothly on Windows, will not be ready until October 2006, nine months behind schedule.

{mospagebreaktitle=Microsoft says it gets more time to reply on antirust ruling}Microsoft says it gets more time to reply on antirust ruling

Microsoft said on Monday it had been given extra time by the European Commission to respond to the threat of a US$2 million-a-day fine over allegations that it has failed to comply with a landmark EU antitrust ruling.

``We have been granted an extension to 15 February,'' a spokesman for the company said, as reported by Reuters in The New York Times (23 January).

The Reuters report says that the extension comes as antitrust authorities in the United States questioned whether the company was doing enough to comply with a 2002 antitrust settlement with the US government.

The US Justice Department said on Monday that delays were holding up efforts to verify documentation for protocols that rival companies need to make their products work with Microsoft's Windows computer operating system.

The European Commission also has complained about the quality of documentation for Windows protocols.

Reuters reports that in a decision last month, the Commission had given Microsoft until Wednesday to reply to the charge that it had failed to share information on office servers with its competitors as ordered by Brussels.

In March, 2004, the Commission imposed a 497 million euro fine on the company and required it to offer a version of Windows computer operating system without audiovisual software, because it had competed unfairly against rivals.

Reuters says that Microsoft also was supposed to offer rivals so-called protocols, or rules of the road.

That would enable rival makers of server software that helps manage tasks like printing within a group of desktop machines to work as well with Windows as Microsoft server software does.

{mospagebreaktitle=Digital tv poised for Europe growth boom: study}Digital tv poised for Europe growth boom: study

Digital television services, including TV, Web access and telephone calls, will dominate Europe's digital economy by the decade's end with 60 percent of households hooked up, according to a study released on Monday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (23 January) that more than 100 billion euros (US$122 billion) in related investment, including more than 100,000 new jobs, are expected from next-generation television services, said strategy and technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

``The long-term winners will be the players, who are first to offer the consumer the so-called 'triple-play', access to all three services from single source, on favorable terms and conditions,'' Booz Allen Hamilton said in a statement.

According to Reuters, the study, based on market data and interviews with industry participants, said that digital services will shift away from services focused on broadband -- or high-speed internet -- toward comprehensive communication and entertainment services centered on digital TV that also delivers Internet and telephone calls.

The study warned that over-regulation of the nascent industry could hinder development and cut total expected spending by about 40 percent, Reuters reports.

{mospagebreaktitle=Anti-scam website forced offline}Anti-scam website forced offline

A website set up to warn UK companies about an international business directory scam has been pulled by hosting company Server Center after legal threats.

The Register reports (23 January) that Server Centre, and its upstream supplier RapidSwitch, took the decision after a flurry of legal notices. Letters starting arriving from Birmingham solicitors Wragge & Co in October last year initially alleging libel and breach of copyright. But after changes were made to the site, and copyright material removed, the letters continued.

The publication reports that Adam Heavens, MD of Server Centre, told the publication by email: "We then had a number of letters from Wragge and other law firms requesting that the site was taken offline; if the site was not taken offline Server Centre Limited could be liable for damages.

The statement said the company site was then taken offline.

{mospagebreaktitle=Google crushes Apple in battle of the brands}Google crushes Apple in battle of the brands

Google has knocked Apple off the top of a list of the world's most influential brands in 2005, doing unto the iPod maker what it did to the internet advertising company in 2004.

The Register reports (23 January) that the list was compiled by brandchannel.com and was based on a survey of 2,528 branding professionals and members of the public. The poll was conducted online, which undoubtedly skews the survey in favour of technology companies. Of the top ten brands, only two, Starbucks and Ikea, are not technology players.

According to The Register, Google's lead was not tremendous. It scored just over 40 per cent to Apple's 38 per cent, but third-placed Skype - the first time the VoIP company has appeared on the list - scored just 14 per cent, the same as fourth-placed Starbucks, followed by Ikea, Nokia, Yahoo!, web browser Firefox, Skype parent eBay and Sony.

Apple took the lead in the first poll, conducted in 2001. Then, Google was fourth, but took the number-one slot in 2002 and again in 2003. In both years, Apple sat in second place.

The Register says that Apple can take heart from the North American chart, in which it pushed Google into second place ahead of Starbucks, Target, cyclist Lance Armstrong, personal ads site craigslist, Whole Foods, Coca-Cola, Oprah Winfrey and Amazon.com.

In EMEA, most of the global brands fared less well. Nokia topped the chart, followed by Ikea and Skype. Clothing brands Adidas and H&M made it onto the list (seventh and ninth, respectively), while car-maker BMW came in at number five. Media outlets the BBC (sixth) and Al Jazeera (eighth) also appeared in the chart.

The Register says that in the Asia-Pacific chart, Tiger Beer placed ninth, ahead of Japanese fad Hello Kitty, but behind (counting downwards) Sony (first place), Toyota, Samsung, LG, banking organisation HSBC, Singapore Airlines, Honda, and travel guide company Lonely Planet (eighth).

{mospagebreaktitle=Banks urged to help fight online fraud}Banks urged to help fight online fraud

Banks need to help consumers protect themselves against online fraud, Britain's Financial Services Authority said Monday as it unveiled research showing that consumer confidence in internet banking is fragile.

The Associated Press reports (23 January) that the FSA said that half of internet banking users it surveyed were ''extremely'' or ''very'' concerned about the possible risks of fraud in banking online.

It also reported that more than a quarter of people who installed security software to protect themselves against fraud did not know when they last updated the software or did not update it frequently. Five percent of those who use online banking did not have any security software installed on their computers.

According to AP., the findings -- from a survey of 1,508 respondents -- were part of the bank's annual risk outlook report, which is due to be released in full on Wednesday. The report emphasises the need for consumers to educate themselves on the importance of security when using online banking.

APACS, the UK trade association for payment institutions, found that 14.5 million pounds (euro21.17 million; US$25.68 million) was lost through internet banking fraud from January through June 2005. Losses during the same period in 2004 came to 4 million pounds (euro5.84 million; US$7.08 million).

AP also reports that the survey found that 95 percent of people surveyed by the FSA said banks should take at least some of the responsibility for keeping customers secure, and 45 percent said banks should take full responsibility.

The FSA research showed that if banks made consumers fully liable for protecting against losses, 77 percent of users would stop using the online service.

{mospagebreaktitle=Profit up 34% at chip maker}Profit up 34% at chip maker 

Texas Instruments, one of the world's largest makers of cellphone chips, said yesterday that fourth-quarter profit rose 34 percent.

The Bloomberg News reports in The New York Times (24 January) that net income was US$655 million, or 40 cents a share, compared with US$490 million, or 28 cents a share, in the year-earlier period, the company said. Sales rose to US$3.59 billion, from US$3.15 billion.

The chief financial officer, Kevin P. March, said sales were at the lower end of the company's December forecast, however, because assembly and testing centers could not keep up with demand.

Last week, Intel reported revenue that trailed its own forecast.

According to Bloomberg, Texas Instruments reported its results after the close of regular trading. The company, based in Dallas, fell 63 cents, to US$31.07, in late trading after a close of US$31.70, up 4 cents.

Texas Instruments said last month that profit would be 38 cents to 40 cents a share, at the top end of its previous forecast. The company also predicted sales of US$3.56 billion to US$3.71 billion.

Bloomberg says that the company forecast first-quarter sales of US$3.11 billion to US$3.38 billion. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial was US$3.46 billion.

{mospagebreaktitle=US: New company emerges with new service for business users}US: New company emerges with new service for business users

A company backed by some big names in high tech emerged from stealth Monday to announce a service designed to let business users know how best to reach colleagues at a given moment, be it via instant messaging, telephone or e-mail.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times (23 January) that the new company, Tello, is the brainchild of Jeff Pulver, a founder of internet calling company Vonage Holdings.

Also on the board are Craig McCaw, who founded the company that later became AT&T Wireless; and John Sculley, the former chief executive of Apple Computer and PepsiCo; as well as telecom investment banker Michael Price.

AP says that the four men founded the company in 2004, providing the initial capital. While working in secrecy, the Californian company attracted money from the investment arm of Intellast year.

Tello's product is a combination of software and an internet service that extends a feature of instant messaging programs like AOL Instant Messenger, which tell a user if a contact is logged on and available. In tech-speak, this is ''presence'' information.

According to AP., when set up to connect to a corporate telephone exchange or internet calling service, Tello can tell a user if a contact is on the telephone. Likewise, a BlackBerry wireless e-mail device with Tello loaded will tell Tello users if the owner is available.

Tello also collects information from instant messaging programs, including AOL's, Yahoo's, and business-oriented messaging systems, reports AP.

{mospagebreaktitle=Investigation of Livedoor leads to Arrest of Jap. founder}Investigation of Livedoor leads to Arrest of Jap. founder

Takafumi Horie, the brash internet entrepreneur whose rise captivated Japan until an investigation into his business practices panicked the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was arrested Monday night on charges that he had violated securities exchange law.

The New York Times reports (24 January) that prosecutors said Mr. Horie and three other executives of the Livedoor Company, who were also arrested, tried to increase the company's stock price by spreading false information, issuing new shares to ostensibly buy businesses already under their control and then selling them to create false profits.

According to the newspaper, it was an abrupt change for the self-made 33-year-old who only last month sang at a company Christmas party and told workers that his ambition was to make his internet-based conglomerate the largest company in the world.

Mr. Horie, a University of Tokyo dropout, parlayed a US$50,000 investment in 1995 into a company that had a market value of US$6.1 billion a week ago. Today, it is worth about US$2 billion after investigators raided Mr. Horie's office and home.

The media in Japan reported late Tuesday that Mr. Horie was expected to resign and be replaced by the senior vice presdient, Kozo Hiramatsu.

{mospagebreaktitle=Taiwan working to maintain its technology industry leadership}Taiwan working to maintain its technology industry leadership

Think of most tech gadgets, from the iPod to the PlayStation, and an engineer on the island of Taiwan of 23 million has probably had a hand in its creation, reports The Mercury News in a 23 January story on Taiwan.

The Mercury News says that while India and China share the spotlight as emerging giants, Taiwan is already a huge behind-the-scenes maker of the world's tech products.

Taiwanese companies produce three-quarters of the world's notebook computers, two-thirds of its personal digital assistants and nearly 70 percent of its liquid crystal display monitors, according to Taiwan government statistics.

The newspaper says that the island is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's largest made-to-order chip manufacturer.
Now, says The Mercury News, Taiwan is making strides in moving to a more visible role as tech innovator. The newspaper says that as China muscles its way into more and more sophisticated manufacturing, Taiwanese companies are elevating their research and design skills and creating their own brands that can be marketed globally to stay a few steps ahead of its intimidating neighbor.

The Taipei government, as well, is concerned that Taiwan's tech economy -- traditionally strong in chips, PCs and other hardware and electronics -- is at risk. So it is encouraging development of industries new to Taiwan, including digital content and biomedical devices.

And, says The Mercury News, it's looking to its longtime business partner, Silicon Valley, for inspiration and help. Taiwan government officials are working to strengthen relations with the valley, hoping to import its entrepreneurial culture and form new partnerships. Last year, the Taiwan government's Industrial Technology Research Institute, or ITRI, started an incubator in San Jose to link Taiwanese venture capitalists and tech suppliers with valley entrepreneurs.

Indeed, according to the newspaper, the island's tech industry faces many challenges in this era of shifting global fortunes. Taiwanese companies that try to succeed with their own branded products run the risk of butting heads with foreign companies that hire them to build and design products sold under the brands of the overseas companies. These relations have been key to the island nation's stunning economic rise over the years, says The Mercury News.

Furthermore, Taiwanese companies don't have the advantages of US companies and, increasingly, those in China, which have large domestic markets that can be a springboard for creating a global brand, adds the newspaper.

{mospagebreaktitle=T-Mobile seeks halt to cell phone record sales}T-Mobile seeks halt to cell phone record sales

T-Mobile, the No. 4 US wireless carrier, said on Monday it asked a Washington state court to prevent companies from allegedly using fraudulent means to obtain and sell T-Mobile customer call records.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (24 January) that German-owned T-Mobile said it asked the court for an injunction against Data Find Solutions, 1st Source Information Specialists and related firms and individuals. T-Mobile said the companies ran or owned Web sites such as www.locatecell.com and www.celltolls.com that offered such services.

According to Reuters, a person who answered the telephone at 1st Source, based in Florida, declined to comment and a call to the company's lawyer was not immediately returned. Attempts to locate a representative for Data Find Solutions were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit was filed in King County, Washington Superior Court, under the state's criminal profiteering laws, said T-Mobile, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom AG.

Reuters reports that US lawmakers, state attorneys general, and the Federal Communications Commission are looking into what laws, if any, were broken by companies that have obtained cell phone records and sold them.

Officials are concerned companies are posing as customers or phone company employees to gain access to call records and then selling them online.