GM issues IT contracts

One of the big US car companies, General Motors has announced that it will spend up to US$15 billion over the next five years to contract out information technology services. Electronic Data Systems, its former subsidiary, will remain the biggest supplier but will receive less work.

The New York Times reports (3 February) that G. awarded contracts to six companies, including EDS., IBM and Hewlett-Packard. G.M. said the contracts were driven by the terms of a 10-year spinoff agreement with EDS that ends in June.

GM., which lost US$8.6 billion last year, hopes the new contracts will help the company cut costs and modernise its information technology systems. The company declined, however, to disclose how much it might save.

The newspaper reports that Compuware's Covisint subsidiary and two foreign information technology companies, Capgemini of France and Wipro of India, also received GM contracts.

Almost half of the estimated $15 billion the company said it could spend

{mospagebreaktitle=Microsoft says Europe blocks its defense}Microsoft says Europe blocks its defense

As the antitrust noose tightened around Microsoft in Europe, the company went on the offensive late last week, accusing the European Commission of denying it access to documents it needs to defend itself.

The New York Times reports (3 February) that the commission quickly denied that was the case, saying it was too soon in the process for Microsoft to be making such a claim. Microsoft has until 15 Feb. to respond to the commission's December statement that the company has not complied with a March 2004 antitrust ruling.

That ruling fined Microsoft 497 million euros (about US$600 million at the time) and ordered it to change the way it does business in Europe. Microsoft paid the fine, but the commission says the company has still not provided enough information on its Windows operating system to allow makers of rival software to build products that work smoothly with Windows '” one of the main requirements of the 2004 ruling. If the company does not comply with the ruling, the commission can fine Microsoft up to 2 million euros a day.

The newspaper reports that, in a letter to the commission,that was leaked to the press, Microsoft accused the European antitrust regulator of "seriously prejudicing Microsoft's right of defense."

Microsoft wants to see the correspondence between the commission and the external advisers who prepared a report on Microsoft's compliance with the 2004 ruling. The letters, the company says, will help it understand how the commission reached its conclusions and says "it's a basic question of fairness and transparency."

But, according to the NYT., the European Commission dismissed Microsoft's complaint, saying it was too early to accuse the regulator of failing to disclose relevant documents in the case.

{mospagebreaktitle=Amazon's profits fall}Amazon's profits fall

Amazon, the giant online retailer, reported late Thursday that its profit declined 43 percent during the holiday quarter, in large part because of a reduced tax benefit.

The New York Times reports (3 February) that without special items, the company reported revenue that was slightly lower than expected, along with much higher expenses.

According to the newspaper, Wall Street appears to be growing weary of Amazon's high costs, which have hurt earnings for several quarters. During the quarter, Amazon's fourth, investment in technology and content increased 57 percent to US$132 million, compared with US$84 million in the year-earlier period.

Amazon also continues to offer several expensive promotions as a way of keeping customers and increasing their use of the site.

The NYT says that the company will not say how much those promotions cost. But Thomas J. Szkutak, the chief financial officer, said that together the programs saved customers US$475 million in shipping last year. The company also said that subscriptions to Amazon Prime more than doubled in December from November.

Amazon's earnings release came two days after quarterly results from the online search engine Google disappointed investors.

The newspaper reports that quarterly profit at Amazon, which is based in Seattle, was US$199 million, or 47 cents a share. That compares with US$346.7 million, or 82 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Amazon's sales rose 17 percent, to US$2.98 billion, from US$2.54 billion a year earlier, missing Wall Street's average estimate of US$3.08 billion. The company said sales would have increased 22 percent if not for an impact of US$121 million from changes in foreign exchange rates.

The NYT says that, for the year, Amazon's sales grew 23 percent, to US$8.49 billion, while profit declined to US$359 million, from US$588 million, in part because of increased income tax expenses.

{mospagebreaktitle=Postage payment for sending e-mail}Postage payment for sending e-mail

Companies will soon have to buy the electronic equivalent of a postage stamp if they want to be certain that their e-mail will be delivered to many of their customers.

The New York Times reports (5 February) that America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. The senders must promise to contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely.

The internet companies say that this will help them identify legitimate mail and cut down on junk e-mail, identity-theft scams and other scourges that plague users of their services. Thy also stand to earn millions of dollars a year from the system if it is widely adopted.

According to the newspaper, AOL and Yahoo will still accept e-mail from senders who have not paid, but the paid messages will be given special treatment. On AOL, for example, they will go straight to users' main mailboxes, and will not have to pass the gantlet of spam filters that could divert them to a junk-mail folder or strip them of images and Web links. As is the case now, mail arriving from addresses that users have added to their AOL address books will not be treated as spam, says the NYT.

The NYT further reports that Yahoo and AOL say the new system is a way to restore some order to e-mail, which, because of spam and worries about online scams, has become an increasingly unreliable way for companies to reach their customers, even as online transactions are becoming a crucial part of their businesses.

{mospagebreaktitle=Experts: 'Hype' may have mitigated worm}Experts: 'Hype' may have mitigated worm

Companies and individuals heeded last week's warning about a file-destroying computer worm known as ''Kama Sutra,'' helping minimise its damage Friday, security experts said.

The Associated Press reports in The  New York Times (3 February) that one Italian city shut down its computers as a precaution, but otherwise the worm's trigger date arrived with relatively few reports of problems.

For days, experts warned that the worm could corrupt documents using the most common file types, including ''.doc,'' ''.pdf,'' and ''.zip.'' It affects most versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system, prompting the software giant to issue a warning Tuesday.

According to AP., hundreds of thousands of computers were believed to be infected, but security vendors say many companies and individuals had time to clean up their machines following the alarm, carried by scores of media outlets including The Associated Press.

For Milan, Italy, though, the discovery came too late, according to AP., with technicians switching off 10,000 city government computers after discovering the infection Thursday and deciding they didn't have enough time to clean the machines.

AP reports that, unlike other worms generally designed to help spammers and hackers carry out attacks, Kama Sutra sets out to destroy documents by overwriting data.

The worm -- called ''CME-24'' but nicknamed after the Hindu love manual Kama Sutra because of the pornographic come-ons in e-mails spreading it -- also tries to disable anti-virus software, but vendors have generally posted updates that should protect users.

AP says that assuming the computer's calendar settings are correct, users can also avoid the worm by leaving their machines off until Saturday, although the worm is set to trigger again on 3 March.

{mospagebreaktitle=Sony in talks to spin off non - core units: source}Sony in talks to spin off non - core units: source

Sony is in discussions to sell sizeable stakes in four ``non-core'' businesses, including a retail outlet and a French restaurant launched by the late Sony founder Akio Morita, a source close to the matter said on Saturday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (4 February) that the four businesses are importer-retailer Sony Plaza, cosmetics maker B&C Laboratories, French-restaurant chain Maxim's de Paris, and mail order firm Sony Family Club, according to the source, who declined to be identified.

The sale, which the Nihon Keizai business daily earlier reported would yield Sony several tens of billions of yen, was part of Sony's drive to focus its resources on electronics and other core businesses, the source said.

Reuters reports that Sony hopes to sell more than 50 percent of the four operations.

In September, newly appointed chief executive Howard Stringer unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan calling for the electronics maker to shed 10,000 employees, shutter several plants and sell off more than US$1 billion in non-core assets, Reuters reports.

{mospagebreaktitle=New generation for games}New generation for games

A new generation of game consoles is ushering in online features that promise to make playing with others over the internet easier and more compelling than sitting on the couch and playing solo or with a friend.

According to Reuters in a New York Times report (4 February) eyeing a much larger market, console makers are stealing a page or two from the PC gaming playbook.

The news service reports that card-core PC game enthusiasts spend a fortune ``tricking out'' their machines with lightning-fast memory, bleeding-edge video cards and even water-cooling systems to get an edge in multiplayer online games that can take on a life of their own.gaming cousins and consoles themselves are less easy to modify, which levels the playing field. However, Reuters says that is set to change.

Reuters adds that game enthusiasts say Microsoft's Xbox Live online game service has gained share with help from its blockbuster game ``Halo 2'' as well as its new Xbox 360 console. The service offers multiplayer competition and skill-matching, voice and text chat, buddy lists and shopping -- all key pillars of online gaming.

Xbox Live is a central feature in Microsoft's new Xbox 360 console and online strategies are also key for Sony and Nintendo, which are slated to release new consoles this year, says Reuters.

Reuters reports that Microsoft says its has 2 million Xbox Live users in 24 countries. Its silver membership is free to Xbox 360 owners and the US$50-per-year gold membership is required to access multiplayer features.

Sony, reports Reuters, has 180 online-enabled games for its current PlayStation 2 and 2.7 million registered users in its North America online console gaming community.

But, according to Reuters, Xbox Live is considered by many gamers as the preferred service, but analysts say Sony, the world's No. 1 console seller, will give Microsoft a run for its money with its upcoming PlayStation 3.

{mospagebreaktitle=Volkswagen teams with Google on navigation system}Volkswagen teams with Google on navigation system

Volkswagen's American unit on Friday said it is working on a prototype vehicle which features Google's satellite mapping software to give drivers a bird's eye view of the road ahead.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (3 February) that the two companies are working with the graphics chipmaker Nvidia to build an in-car navigation map system and a three-dimensional display so passengers can recognise where they are in relation to the surrounding topography.

Volkswagen of America, working through its Electronics Research Laboratory in Silicon Valley, is working on other advancements, including automatic personalised information updates for the navigation systems.

Reuters says that the car manufacturer showed off the prototype car at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

{mospagebreaktitle=UK.gov inflates ID theft risk:The Register}UK.gov inflates ID theft risk:The Register

The UK government has come out with yet another questionable study to support its obsessive bent to impose ID cards on the British public, according to The Register in a 3 February report.

Once again, says The Register, ID fraud figures as the reason why Brits need expensive biometric proofs of identity.

The Register says that a Home Office study claims ID fraud costs Britain £1.7billion. But, says the publication, most of these losses have either been overstated or represent nothing to do with ID fraud, an investigation by Silicon.com has discovered.

The UK online publication says that figures for the theft of a credit or debit card, missing trader, VAT fraud, and even the cost of police time in investigating con men trying to get into homes, have been added together with genuine ID fraud by the government in a hamfisted attempt to artificially inflate its figures.

But, says The Register, as Silicon notes, actual ID fraud losses are a third of Home Office estimates at around £494million. The Home Office concedes establishing ID fraud losses are an inexact science, but maintains that its £1.7billionn figure is only a "conservative estimate".

{mospagebreaktitle=Virus floors Russian stock exchange}Virus floors Russian stock exchange

A computer virus succeeded in bringing down the main Russian stock exchange on Thursday last week.

The Register reports (3 February) that the Russian Trading System (RTS) was forced to suspend operations in its three markets between 1315 and 1420 GMT after unnamed malware infected systems. Viral infection resulted in a huge upsurge of outgoing traffic, interrupting normal network operations.

The publication reports that Reuters quotes an RTS spokesman as saying that the virus got into a computer connected to a test trading system from the internet.  The report said that the infected computer started generating huge volumes of parasitic traffic, which overloaded the RTS's support routers. The result was that normal traffic - data going in to and out of the trading system - was not processed.