Industry Standard News and Predictions

British directory Yell.com partners with Daylife for topical microsites

Venture Beat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:42:38 -0500

Yell.com, the British online version of the Yellow Pages, has launched 18 new microsites powered by Daylife SmartSections, which VentureBeat wrote about in December. In a prepared statement, the two companies called it “a significant expansion of Yell’s plans to integrate consumer advice and information into its local business search experience.” In plain American English, Yell.com now has subsites like plumbers.yell.com and gardens.yell.com that combine paid listings for local plumbers and gardeners with how-to articles, videos, plus blog posts and tweets from selected experts.

“Anyone looking for local services can benefit from more than a phone number” is how Daylife CEO Upendra Shardanand put it. The thing about Daylife’s SmartSections is that they’re intensively curated, rather than left to run on autopilot or shoveled full of mediocre content. In America, Daylife is already incorporated into USA Today’s Today in the Sky site and the NPR Topic Index. Don’t be surprised to see more large websites looking to Daylife to provide them better topical content than they could create themselves.

Daylife , headquartered in New York City , was founded in 2005 and has 25 employees. The company has secured $15 million in funding, most recently a round of $4M led by strategic investor Getty Images.

Yell.com is part of Yell Group, headquartered in Reading, UK. It was founded in 1966 — before the Unix Epoch — and has 14,983 employees. The company is public and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2003.

New Russian botnet tries to kill rival

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:42:15 -0500

An upstart Trojan horse program has decided to take on its much-larger rival by stealing data and then removing the malicious program from infected computers.

Security researchers say that the relatively unknown [ Spy Eye toolkit ] added this functionality just a few days ago in a bid to displace its larger rival, known as Zeus.

The feature, called "Kill Zeus," apparently removes the Zeus software from the victim's PC, giving Spy Eye exclusive access to usernames and passwords.

Zeus and Spy Eye are both Trojan-making toolkits, designed to give criminals an easy way to set up their own "botnet" networks of password-stealing programs. These programs emerged as a major problem in 2009, with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation estimating last October that they have caused $100 million in losses.

Trojans such as Zeus and Spy Eye steal online banking credentials. This information is then used to empty bank accounts by transferring funds to so-called money mules -- U.S. residents with bank accounts -- who then move the cash out of the country.

Sensing an opportunity, a number of similar Trojans have emerged recently, including Filon, Clod and [ Bugat ], which was discovered just last month.

Spy Eye popped up in Russian cybercrime forums in December, according to Symantec Senior Research Manager Ben Greenbaum.

With its "Kill Zeus" option, Spy Eye is the most aggressive crimeware, however. The software can also steal data as it is transferred back to a Zeus command-and-control server, said Kevin Stevens, a researcher with SecureWorks. "This author knows that Zeus has a pretty good market, and he's looking to cut in," he said.

Turf wars are nothing new to cybercriminals. Two years ago a malicious program called Storm Worm began attacking servers controlled by a rival known as Srizbi. And a few years before that, the authors of the Netsky worm programmed their software to remove rival programs Bagle and MyDoom.

Spy Eye sells for about $500 on the black market, about one-fifth the price of premium versions of Zeus. To date, it has not been spotted on many PCs, however.

Still, the Trojan is being developed quickly and has a growing list of features, Greenbaum said. It can, for example, steal cached password information that is automatically filled in by the browser, and back itself up via e-mail. "This is interesting in its potential, but it's not currently a widespread threat at all," he said.

Read more about spam, malware and vulnerabilities in Computerworld's Spam, Malware and Vulnerabilities Knowledge Center.

Micron will acquire memory chip Numonyx for $1.27 billion

Venture Beat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:24:05 -0500

In a big victory for a new kind of memory chip and the little startup making it, Micron Technology announced today it is buying Numonyx in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.27 billion.

Boise, Idaho,-based Micron is the largest U.S. maker of main memory chips used in PCs and other electronics. Numonyx, meanwhile, is a decade-old startup that has been working on a universal memory chip — which combines the best features of multiple types of memory chips.

Micron plans to issue 140 million shares to Numonyx shareholders. The deal is a big win for Numonyx investors Francisco Partners, Intel, and ST Microelectronics. Micron will issue up to 10 million more shares to Numonyx shareholders, depending on Micron’s average share price for the next 20 trading days. The deal is expected to close in three to six months.

Back in December, Intel and Numonyx announced they had accomplished a breakthrough in a new kind of memory chip dubbed “phase change memory.”

They showed a prototype of a 64-megabit phase change chip that can be stacked three dimensionally on the same chip. That means the chip has multiple layers of memory cells, allowing it to be densely packed with storage cells. It can also be used for both random access (DRAM) functions and non-volatile memory (like Flash, where the memory is retained even without power). And it doesn’t consume a lot of power. The initial chip has just one layer, but future chips are expected to be stackable.

Memory chips need to be fast, dense in terms of storage capacity, and need to hold their data even when the power is off. Nothing has fit the bill yet. Dynamic random access memory chips used as main memory in personal computers is fast, but it loses data without an electrical charge. Flash memory is dense and holds data even if the power is turned off, but it is slower. And disk drives hold data when the power is off, but they’re slow compared to DRAM.

This new prototype chip, called a PCMS for phase change memory and switch, has a storage cell layered with what Numonyx calls an Ovonic Threshold Switch, which allows the cells to be stacked vertically yet accessed easily. The prototype uses a material that is an electrically-charged form of glass. This same kind of material is used in CD-ROM drives and non-volatile memory today. At the time Intel and Numonyx said they could not predict when they could commercialize the chips. But apparently Micron is confident they can do so.

There are other kinds of new memory technologies under research. One of them, magnetic random access memory, is in production now, but it isn’t a stackable memory.

Real Networks spinning off Rhapsody to focus on RealPlayer

Venture Beat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:48:38 -0500

Real Networks is spinning off digital music service Rhapsody by the end of the quarter. While it will still own a significant stake in the new, independent entity, it won’t have more power than the other major interest Viacom. (They didn’t specify their exact share except to say that it was below 50 percent.)

The move is intended to lighten the load on Real Networks while simultaneously freeing up room for more investors in Rhapsody.

Even Rhapsody can raise more money, the music service’s prospects appear dim. It actually lost about 300,000 subscribers over the course of 2009. Plus Apple’s iTunes and companies like Europe’s Spotify may soon be competing against it in the U.S. with a subscriber model.

Rhapsody had the distinction of being the first service to offer streaming access to a full digital music library on-demand, but it’s proved too expensive for mass adoptio. Its iPhone subscription launched last summer for $14.99 a month. It’s uncertain whether Rhapsody has plans to diversify or focus on a more niche audience.

Real Networks, on the other hand, is more stable. Off-loading Rhapsody will give it breathing room to grow the user base for RealPlayer, its digital media player. In fact, it just launched a new beta version of its RealPlayer for Mac. It will also focus more on the gaming side of its business, which could prove more lucrative than music. While the change comes shortly after CEO Rob Glaser decided to step down, the company says it has been in the works for a while.

Along with an $18 million infusion of cash from Real Networks, Rhapsody has a pledge from MTV Networks to run $33 million worth of ads on the service. Both companies will also retain seats on Rhapsody’s board.

New Russian botnet tries to kill rival

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:33:49 -0500

An upstart Trojan horse program has decided to take on its much-larger rival by stealing data and then removing the malicious program from infected computers.

Security researchers say that the relatively unknown Spy Eye toolkit added this functionality just a few days ago in a bid to displace its larger rival, known as Zeus.

The feature, called "Kill Zeus," apparently removes the Zeus software from the victim's PC, giving Spy Eye exclusive access to usernames and passwords.

Sensing an opportunity, a number of similar Trojans have emerged recently, including Filon, Clod and Bugat, which was discovered just last month.

Spy Eye popped up in Russian cybercrime forums in December, according to Symantec Senior Research Manager Ben Greenbaum.

Spy Eye sells for about US$500 on the black market, about one-fifth the price of premium versions of Zeus. To date, it has not been spotted on many PCs, however.

Broadcom adds Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi Direct to Android

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:29:18 -0500

Broadcom increased its bet on the Android mobile operating system on Tuesday, announcing additional capabilities for its software stack and a new chip for navigation in Android-based devices.

The company added support for Bluetooth 3.0 and for the Wi-Fi Direct specification to its software stacks for Android devices. By using some Wi-Fi technology, Bluetooth 3.0 increases the maximum throughput of the personal-area networking standard to more than 20M bps (bits per second) from roughly 2.1M bps. Wi-Fi Direct allows wireless LAN client devices, such as smartphones and PCs, to communicate directly without going through an access point.

Analysts expect Android, the open-source mobile operating system introduced by Google in 2008, to take a growing share of the mobile device market. IDC said last month it expected Android to be the fastest-growing mobile OS over the next five years, becoming the second-most-popular platform behind Symbian by 2012. The OS is also making its way into other devices, including netbooks and PNDs (personal navigation devices).

Though it declined to talk about specific customers, Broadcom said its communications chips are used in a majority of the Android devices on the market. Its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi transceivers have been reported found in the Google Nexus One handset.

Broadcom will demonstrate these and a variety of other enhancements next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It will also show off the BCM4751, a new GPS (Global Positioning System) chip in which the company has integrated several formerly external components to reduce the cost, size and power consumption of the GPS system in a phone or PND.

In addition to Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi Direct, Broadcom's software stack for Android includes support for "soft access point" capability, which allows a Wi-Fi client device to act as an access point and share connectivity with other devices nearby, and for the WAPI (Wireless LAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure) security protocol used in China.

Android comes with a Bluetooth software stack, called BlueZ, but Broadcom's software goes beyond BlueZ's features to include additional profiles that define other uses of Bluetooth.

Mobile World Congress will mark the first time Broadcom has publicly demonstrated its support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) on Android, the company said. Also at the trade show, Broadcom will demonstrate Android support in multiple chips in a tablet that uses Broadcom VoIP, multimedia, GPS, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips.

The enhanced Android software stack is available to developers immediately and is likely to show up in shipping products this quarter, said Craig Ochikubo, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's wireless personal area networking group. The BCM4751 chip is shipping to customers now and should be on sale in consumer devices later this year, he said.

In Defense of Microsoft

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:14:55 -0500

I know, I know. You hate Microsoft for its bloated, buggy software, its slowness to innovate, and its government-certified, monopolistic bullying. I won't argue with any of those points, or those made last week in the NY Times by former Microsoft VP Dick Brass, who called his former employer "a clumsy, uncompetitive innovator."

But I will say this: All of us in the technology community owe a big debt to Microsoft. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer shouldered a task that, for all their brilliance, Jobs and his colleagues at Apple didn't take on: making computing ubiquitous.

It's easy to bash Microsoft over its many failings, and I often do--particularly on the consumer front. But the Redmond giant has done an admirable job of getting pretty much every business on earth onto a single, functional platform.

Is that a criticism of Apple? It is not. So hold your fire, fanboys. Apple makes great hardware and software. And not just computers, as its game-changing successes with iTunes and the iPhone--and maybe the iPad--prove. But an essential ingredient in that recipe for success is total control of the platform. Apple has it, Microsoft doesn't. So the very quality that made Apple a better platform than Windows also made the Mac a niche product.

Windows, Windows Everywhere

As computer technology really took hold in the 1980s and 1990s, businesses wanted standard products and standard software at a relatively low price point. Apple didn't offer that. If you wanted to buy an Apple, or later a Mac, you bought it from Apple or an Apple-certified dealer. Except for a very brief experiment, no other company has been allowed to build a Mac.

Since Apple controlled the platform, its products weren't plagued by the panoply of hardware and software incompatibilities familiar to Windows users. But there was a huge tradeoff. Apple had a monopoly on Apple computers. And like all monopolies, it kept prices artificially high. For years, a business-worthy Apple machine cost nearly twice as much as a roughly comparable Windows machine. Faced with that discrepancy, choosing Windows-based PCs was a no-brainer for most companies.

And writing software for the Windows platform instead of the Mac platform was a no-brainer for developers who wanted the largest audience possible. The same was true for makers of all sorts of components and peripherals. Without the ability to sell hundreds of millions of chips for use in hundreds of millions of computers, a company like Intel could never have afforded the immense investment it took to push semiconductor technology so far, so fast. Simply put, Windows spawned a global ecosystem that proprietary Apple couldn't match.

Meanwhile, Microsoft made backwards compatibility a key strategic goal as it revved the Windows platform. Sure, that led to code bloat and a lessening of innovation. But if you were in a business, you didn't have to worry that your old software would suddenly be worthless if you bought a new computer with a newer version of Windows. That was not, and is not, true of Apple.

Over time, the PC became a commodity, which means that the machines were so similar, price became the major differentiator. As those prices continued to drop, computing spread from North America, Europe and Japan, to less developed parts of the world. There are hundreds of millions of computers in use, and the vast majority run Windows and use products like Microsoft Office. And all of those businesses can exchange content because their hardware and software is compatible.

Like it or not, that changed the world in a way that Apple could not.

Now, of course, technology is rapidly leaving the Windows desktop behind and Apple is now leading the charge, changing the world. No one would have thought that a computer company would completely upend the music business--and that's just one example. Dick Brass was right. Microsoft is in danger, not of financial bankruptcy, but of intellectual bankruptcy.

Maybe that won't happen. But whether it does or not, it's worth remembering that Microsoft deserves a vote of thanks along with the well-deserved brickbats.

San Francisco journalist Bill Snyder writes frequently about business and technology. He welcomes your comments and suggestions. Reach him at bill.snyder@sbcglobal.net.

MS Word Tip: Print Multiple Copies of Individual Pages

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:13:31 -0500

Most Word users know how to print multiple copies of a document: Just change the Number of copies setting to the number you need, then click OK.

Okay, but what if you want to print multiple copies of select pages? For example, suppose your five-page document ends with a registration form. You need only one copy of the first four pages, but you want three copies of page five.

The secret lies in the Page range section of Word's Print dialog. As you may know, by selecting the Pages option, you can specify which pages of a document you want for this particular print job. For example, you might enter 1-3, 5, which would print pages 1, 2, 3, and 5.

But you can also use this option to print multiple copies of individual pages. So in my aforementioned example, to get three copies of page five and one copy of everything else, you'd enter the following: 1-4, 5, 5, 5.

In other words, each time you repeat any given page number in that Pages field, Word will print an extra copy of that page.

Neat, huh? Can't take full credit for this one; the tip came from Susan Harkins.

Fisker pulls out of Michigan just before stimulus payday

Venture Beat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:12:38 -0500

Fisker Automotive, maker of the luxury hybrid Karma, says it will probably receive its $529 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy by the middle of March, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. This follows the company’s announcement that it will shutter its research and development center in Michigan (PDF) — bad news for a state that needs all of the automotive dollars it can cling to.

Even though the DOE gave the loan guarantee to Fisker back in September, the company had a hard time scraping together enough private investment to actually receive the money. Finally, in January it announced a $115.3 million round of equity (PDF) from A123Systems, Ace Investments and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The equity and loan (given through the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program) will be used to launch both the Karma, which it plans to sell for $87,900 a piece, and jump-start progress on its more affordable family sedan, probably called the Nina. That latter vehicle, still in development is expected to sell for $47,400 before a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government. If the company can move fast enough, the Nina could be released in time to compete with Tesla Motors‘ similarly-positioned Model S.

Fisker already has 1,600 people on a waiting list for the Karma; each has paid a deposit of $5,000. But it has a long way to go before it sells the 11,000 cars it pledged to hit by the end of the third quarter in 2011. That was one of the major conditions of the DOE’s loan, but it could be adjusted considering how long it took Fisker to raise the necessary capital.

Even though it’s set for a big payday here in March, the company has still been tightening its belt. To do so, it’s chosen to consolidate its operations in California, where it is headquartered in Irvine, by closing its 34,000 square-foot facility in Pontiac, Mich. It’s a shame that it plans to go on a hiring binge once everything is solidly in California. The Detroit area could definitely use the employment.

While it will be taking some local investment and 30 jobs with it, the company will be maintaining partnerships with several automotive supply companies in the state — including A123Systems, the battery maker it recently struck a deal with, which maintains an office in Ann Arbor, Mich. and has plans to build major manufacturing operations near Detroit.

The plan to make Irvine its hub excludes the Fisker plant being developed in an old General Motors factory in Wilmington, Del. In fact, that will be the primary manufacturing location for the cars rolled out under the banner of Project NINA once it comes to fruition.

Including the government loan, Fisker has raised $817 million to date, and is also backed by Palo Alto Investors, Qatar Investment Authority, and Eco-Drive Capital Partners.

Slew of Critical Updates from Microsoft

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:12:36 -0500

Time flies. Another month has gone by and Patch Tuesday is upon us again. Microsoft is delivering a record-tying 13 security bulletins for February, a virtual avalanche of updates after a relatively quiet January that saw only one security bulletin on Patch Tuesday, and one released out-of-band mid-month to address a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was used to launch attacks against Google and other companies in China.

According to Qualys CTO Wolfgang Kandek, that out-of-band security bulletin saved February from breaking the record for most security bulletins in a month. "Microsoft's February 2010 was slated to be the biggest release for Microsoft patches in the last two years--14 bulletins addressing 34 vulnerabilities. But the Google/CN Internet Explorer 0-day forced Microsoft to accelerate the testing of the planned IE bulletin and release it early, still in January. That leaves 13 bulletins covering 26 vulnerabilities for the February release, which constitutes one of the bigger patch Tuesdays."

Kandek explains "There are 5 critical vulnerabilities for the Windows Operating System family--the newer versions, Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2, are only affected by three of them. Rewrites of the TCP/IP stack and the URI handling in Windows 7 and 2008 R2 improved on the implementation of these core OS capabilities. Highest on our list for patching are MS10-006 SMB client and MS10-013 DirectShow, which affect all versions of Windows and have a low exploitability index. Next are MS10-007 Shell URI handling, which is critical for Windows 2000, XP and 2003 and MS10-008, an update to the ActiveX Killbit settings, applicable to all platforms."

"The SMB Server pathname overflow vulnerability tops my list this month," said Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager, Symantec Security Response. "Server-side vulnerabilities aren't too common anymore, but they're a golden goose for attackers when they are discovered. With this one, if an attacker can find a vulnerable remote server that has a guest account set up, just like that, they've got access to the machine and possibly the entire local network--all without any user involvement required."

Golden geese aside, Tyler Reguly, lead research engineer for nCircle, commented via e-mail with a different perspective. "For the end user, the concerns definitely lie with client-side software. From today's advisories, Microsoft Office, Windows Media Player and even Microsoft Paint are the types of tools that most of those users will have. I'm willing to risk sounding like a broken record: patching is a must. Every user should be running automatic updates on their PC and ensuring that their software stays as up to date as possible.

nCircle director of security Andrew Storms echoed Reguly's concern with MS10-0013. "The most important bug by far for all IT security teams is the MS10-0013, a bug in Microsoft media player. The nature of the exploit lends itself to drive-by attacks that leave unsuspecting victims infected. Since media is what excites people most on the Internet today, an exploit of this bug would make it extremely easy to entice users to watch videos that are actually gateways to malware."

Jerry Bryant, senior security communications manager lead at Microsoft, says "As always, it's recommended that customers deploy all security updates as soon as possible. Of the bulletins released this month, customers should prioritize and deploy MS10-006, MS10-007, MS10-008, and MS10-013, given Critical severity ratings and Exploitability Index ratings of 1 ("Consistent Exploit Code Likely")."

Bryant also added some guidance for IT administrators. "The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) blog contains additional deployment guidance and the Microsoft Exploitability Index includes exploitability ratings for all vulnerabilities addressed in this release."

Tyler Reguly offered up some additional guidance for IT administrators to educate end-users. "User awareness is vital. Don't open attachments from people you don't know. Better yet, even if you know the person, but weren't expecting the attachment, don't open it. Call them up and ask them if they meant to send it to you. That 30 second phone call could save you a lot of pain and grief. This is important at every level of computer usage, from small and medium businesses right up to the largest fortune 500 enterprises. It's equally important at home. Know what you're clicking on!"

No matter how you look at it, February is a busy month for security bulletins and now the race is on for organizations of all sizes to apply all necessary patches and updates before the bad guys figure out how to exploit the new array of flaws and vulnerabilities.

Tony Bradley tweets as @Tony_BradleyPCW, and can be contacted at his Facebook page.

Flickr founder launches Glitch, makes the world a game

Venture Beat — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:02:56 -0500

Tiny Speck, a company started by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield, has just opened a massively-multiplayer, browser-based game called Glitch to alpha testers, giving the world a taste of what Glitch might look like.

There are essentially two schools of multiplayer gaming right now. Massively-multiplayer games, most notably World of Warcraft, have been popular for a long time. They typically have huge worlds, tons of players, and a never-ending number of things you can do and explore. On the other side of the coin are the social games like Farmville and Petville, which are so popular on Facebook and the like. They’re typically simple, run in the browser, and aren’t particularly in-depth.

Glitch appears to be somewhere in the middle. It’s a browser-based game, meaning there’s no software to install or special computer requirements—more like Farmville. But i has huge levels and long quests, will require a lot of thought, multiplayer coordination and strategy, and as co-founder Stewart Butterfield told CNET, is for “people with above average intelligence and sophisticated tastes…the intersection of NRP listeners and game players”—point WoW. Glitch is walking the line between casual social games, and intense, multiplayer, life-consuming games.

The only thing already available as far as the game itself goes is a short preview video. It’s a little cryptic, but appeared to me to be one part Mario, one part acid trip, and one part something completely other. The website offers more of an explanation, describing a journey back to the distant past, to fix the glitch that caused the terrible future that’s coming to us: “This results in a time-traveling effort at saving the future, going back into the minds of eleven great giants walking sacred paths on a barren asteroid who sing and think and hum the world into existence…”

The way the game is built is equally exciting. It was built mostly in Java and Javascript, meaning that it can run in any browser, it can be easily maintained and updated by Tiny Speck, and that new content can be deployed without forcing users to buy new discs, and spend more money. If this works, building a huge, massively-multiplayer game into the browser, it could change how people play games over the Internet.

Tiny Speck is releasing Glitch into private alpha, but it’s looking for testers. The company is letting people into the alpha slowly but steadily, so sign up, but be ready to wait a little while. If you’re not one of the lucky ones, don’t worry. The game will be released to the general public sometime in 2010.

Tiny Speck was started by Butterfield and three members of the Flickr team, and has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Accel and angels like Marc Andreessen and Jeff Weiner.

NBNCo's Quigley unphased by Opposition's NBN policy void

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:56:10 -0500

National Broadband Network (NBN) chief Mike Quigley has kept mum on whether a change in Federal Government could signal trouble for the $43 billion initiative.

Speaking at the Broadband and Beyond conference in Sydney, Quigley said he "would not get involved in politics" by discussing either the [artnid:334873|shadow communications minister's as yet unstated position on the NBN]], or whether the Liberal Party could stop or roll back the network. "I try to stay out of politics as much as I can," Quigley said, responding to Computerworld Australia questions. "It is up to the shadow minister to comment when he feels like commenting.

"In regards to the upcoming election,we will continue doing what we are doing."

The federal opposition has been publicly critical of the massive financial investment of NBN.

Quigley would also not be drawn on whether progress has been made to integrate Telstra's network into the NBN. He said that the NBN Mackinsey-KPMG implementation study had "progressed" but did not say whether the results would be used by the NBNCo or in the implementation of the NBN itself. "There is a lot of cooperation [between Mackinsey-KPMG and NBNCo]," Quigley said. "We are kicking around ideas."

Comp-sci professionals voice opposition to Internet filter

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:54:54 -0500

A conglomerate of Australasian computer science academics has voiced opposition to the Federal Government's plans to introduce mandatory ISP-level Internet content filtering.

The policy, announced by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in December last year, will block URLs that received a Refused Content classification by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

University of Sydney associate professor Bjorn Landfeldt, said the filter was ineffective and could negatively impact the National Broadband Network (NBN).

"Proposed amendments the Broadcasting Services Act to introduce compulsory filtering is unlikely to exclude much of the unwanted content," he said. "It is inapplicable to many of the current methods of online content distribution and has the potential to restrict Internet bandwidth."

Computer Research and Education Association (CORE), which represents Australasian computer science lecturers and professors, publicised its opposition to Internet content filtering at its recent annual general meeting.

An excerpt from CORE's statement reads as follows:

"A key concern is the limitations of list-based filtering schemes, which build on reporting by the general public and actioning by a Government-nominated organisation. With the pace and volume at which content is added to the Internet, such lists can only capture a small fraction of the material that would be classified as harmful. Also, the emergence of short-lived data such as live data streams and dynamic content generation, and the use of dynamic addressing, leads to a situation where any given list rapidly becomes inaccurate or obsolete. It is therefore unlikely that any significant protection can be offered by such an approach."

CORE is calling on the Government establish a working party to properly address a number of issues it sees surrounding its policy.

VividWireless 4G to launch in capital cities in a year

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:53:41 -0500

Australia's first 4G wireless network will begin rolling out across capital cities within a year, according to Seven Network director Ryan Stokes.--

The network run by Seven's subsidiary, VividWireless will hit Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart within 12 months of its March launch debut in Perth.

Speaking at the Communication Alliance's Broadband and Beyond conference in Sydney, Stokes defended bestowing the 4G moniker on the wireless service, saying its service is comparable to a North American 4G service from Clearwire.

The company has deployed 150 wireless sites across Perth, which Stokes said provided good coverage according to results by driving performance tests. He said the city was chosen for first deployment because it is not saturated with broadband, and houses the country's most loyal Seven Network audiences.

He said fixed and wireless broadband technologies are not competing, but noted 3G spectrum -- used by Seven-owned Internet Service Provider Unwired -- is running out of bandwidth from a continual high uptake in mobile data-intensive devices like the iPhone.

NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley, also speaking at the conference, said America is deploying mobile cells linked by fixed fibre to deal with capacity shortfalls.

"The US has hit a peak, and is deploying new cell sites, connected with fibre. [To this] end, we have to put either put in fibre to lots and lots of cell sites or fibre to the premise,"" Quigley said.

The VividWireless network was first announced in September last year following news that Adelaide will get a $3 million WiMax mobile broadband network.

Later in September, Canadian company, DragonWave, signed on to supply wireless backhaul for the forthcoming network.

Unwired Australia will use the company's Horizon Compact for backhaul connectivity of up to 200Mbps between about 150 wireless base stations around Perth, under a multi-year exclusive supply agreement with DragonWave.

Unwired Australia is helping build and operate the VividWireless network, which is scheduled to launch in March 2010.

The 4G-based service will introduce wireless consumer Internet services peaking at more than 20Mbps. Customers using the service on a laptop will gain average speeds of more than 4Mbps and peak speeds in excess of 20Mbps -- up to 10 times faster than those delivered by the existing 3G networks, according to Vivid. Hardware vendor, Huawai, will supply the 4G network equipment.

Judge dismisses Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage suit

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:34:36 -0500

A judge dismissed a lawsuit that was filed against Microsoft over its much-criticized Windows Genuine Advantage program in 2006.

The judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Thursday dismissed the case with prejudice, leaving each party to pay its own lawyer fees. In a statement, Microsoft said it was pleased the case was “resolved successfully.” It did not say whether it agreed to any kind of settlement arrangement.

The suit essentially characterized WGA as spyware, charging Microsoft with failing to describe the tool’s functions before downloading it onto the plaintiffs' computers. WGA was designed to determine whether a user’s version of Windows was pirated. It sent regular information back to Microsoft about user’s hardware and software and warned users of piracy violations.

“Contrary to the express statements Microsoft made in the inadequate disclosures that were provided, the software collected and communicated private identifying information from consumer’s computers and sent that information back to Microsoft on a daily basis,” the complaint read.

In January, the plaintiffs failed to have the suit certified as a class action, a blow to their case.

Shortly after the suit was filed, amid a storm of criticism, Microsoft released a new version of WGA with a reduced schedule of reporting user information back to the software giant. Months later it changed WGA again so as to not cut off users of Windows XP who had uncertain licenses. Those users were being labeled as having illegitimate software and were periodically asked to reinstall or buy a new version, even though in many cases the software was legitimate.

WGA caused other problems as well. Once, after a worker accidentally loaded software onto the live system, Windows XP and Vista users were told via the WGA system that they had pirated copies of their software. The problem lasted more than a day before it was fully corrected.

Report says Apple gained U.S. smartphone market share

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:30:57 -0500

According to market analysis firm ComScore, Apple's share of the U.S. smartphone market grew by a full percentage point in December of 2009.

The company's report indicates that Motorola still controls a leading position in the overall mobile market, while Blackberry maker RIM actually commands the smartphone market with over 41 percent of the installed base.

RIM's slice of the smartphone pie, however, has shrunk by one percent in the three months between September and December of 2009. Meanwhile, Apple's market share has grown by the same amount, confirming Cupertino's second spot on that list with over 25 percent of the market. Palm is the biggest loser among all handset makers, with a decrease of over 2 percent over the previous reporting period; its share seems to have all gone to Google, which gained almost three percent from last September.

You may recall that Macworldreported earlier this month on another analysis report, issued by ABI Research, which actually claimed that the iPhone had lost market share based on the number of units sold. ComScore's numbers seem to confirm the suspicion that ABI's report reflects shifts in sales due to an overall growth in the demand for smartphones, rather than a decrease of interest in Apple's products.

The ComScore paper also indicates that the overall U.S. mobile market continues to grow. According to the report, 63 percent of all subscribers now use texting (up two percent) and 18 percent use downloaded apps--an increase of one percent. Unfortunately, the company did not provide a breakdown of usage by brand, which would have shed additional light on the usage patterns of smartphone subscribers compared to traditional handset owners.

Apple releases iLife, Raw, and Aperture updates

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:17:33 -0500

In the wake of Apple's release of Aperture 3 on Tuesday comes a flurry of related image software updates: iLife Support 9.0.4, Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.0, and Aperture SlideShow Support Update 1.0. All are available now via your Mac's Software Update.

The 70 MB iLife '09 update gives a boost to system software resources shared by iLife and other applications. It aims to increases stability for slideshows viewed in the Media Browser and iPhoto. You should also see improved compatibility between Aperture 3 and the Media Browser. Apple recommends the download for all users of iLife '09, iWork '09, and Aperture.

The Raw update does just what you'd imagine, extending iPhoto '09 and Aperture 3's support for Raw image files to a number of additional cameras, including Canon PowerShot S90, Canon sRAW, Canon mRAW, Leica D-LUX 4, and three Panasonic Lumix cameras (DMC-G1, DMC-GH1, and DMC-LX3). The update weighs in at 6.4 MB and you'll need to be running Mac OS X 10.6.2 or 10.5.8.

The Aperture update fixes playback of video clips used in Aperture 3 slideshows on Snow Leopard. This one is a 62.3 MB download and requires Mac OS X 10.6.2.

I guess you can't get too excited about support updates, but what happens under the hood does indeed make all our lives easier.

Disney sings the praises of the iPad to its investors

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:06:59 -0500

As was expected, Disney's recent conference call spent precious little time dedicated to the goings-on for the game-publishing Disney Interactive division, instead focusing largely on its TV networks, movie studios, and theme parks. However, a statement made by Disney CEO Bob Iger could signify the company's dedication to the platform in the new year across all of its media divisions, gaming included. When asked about the iPad during the Q&A session of the company's investor call, Iger stated that he thought the product "could be a game-changer in terms of enabling us to create new forms of content."

During the call, Iger only commented on Disney's more established properties like digital versions of its books and episodes of its programs like Lost coming to the platform. With the company's acquisition of Marvel and the steady growth of its gaming division, digital comics and iPad games seem like a perfect fit for the upcoming device. Plus, if you call something a "game-changer," the laws of wordplay demand you create games on it. Might we suggest Split/Second?

UC Leads to Cost Savings at Tractor Manufacturer

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:04:45 -0500

About Rs 31,500 crore (US$748.8 million) Mahindra Group is among the top 10 industrial houses in India and the world's third-largest manufacturer of tractors. Its operations, run by 10,000 employees, span the globe. But as the company grew, communications between its staffers became more tenuous.

Highlights

-- It is a single server architecture to provide VoIP services to all users

-- The company needed a common platform to reduce overall communication cost.

"E-mail is good communication tool but it does not facilitate real-time collaboration. Hence a lot of decisions invariably get delayed. And because it was the back bone of our communications, mail volume grew exponentially," says Arvind G. Tawde, senior. VP and CIO, Mahindra & Mahindra. The IT team knew it had to find a less expensive way to connect the company's employees. "Multiple communication devices and the cost of inter-company communication was high," says Tawde. "What we needed was a common platform to reduce overall communication cost. Our objective was to create a unified communication platform which would enable users to collaborate at anytime, anywhere and on any device including computers, laptops, PDAs, IP and analog phones," says Tawde.

Soon, other communication media was added to the platform including traditional telephony, IP telephony, video conferencing, and audio/video calling.

The team also had to ensure that the solution was user-friendly. "The younger generation is more exposed to new technologies and is heavy user of collaboration tools, while the older generation is comparatively less IT savvy. The solution needed to be easy to use to facilitate effective deployment across all segments," says Tawde.

Today M&M staffers can collaborate using IM, online file sharing and real-time editing, user presence and search, audio conferencing, on-demand video conferencing and multi-party engagements. "It is a single server architecture to provide VoIP services to all users. We have provided 100 VoIP connections for enhanced calling features and international calling." Tawde says.

The result of this single platform has been substantial cost savings and improved employee productivity. Staffers no longer have to travel or trawl through e-mail trails. With dependence on e-mail diminishing, the volume of e-mails has also reduced. The company has also eliminated the need for multiple communication devices and its staffers can still multi-task better.

BIA: Future Proofing on Converged Networks

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:00:20 -0500

CIO 100 Winner: Bengaluru International Airport aims at making itself one of the most modern airports equipped with state-of the-art information and communication facilities in the world.

Highlights

-- BIA utilizes state-of the-art information and communication facilities to meet the challenge of modernization.

-- Some of the initiatives - installing IPTV across its campus, converging IP network would help.

The next step is to equip the airport with mobile check-ins -- allowing passengers to check in using their Web-based mobile phones

And to get there, S. Francis Rajan, head-ICT, BIAL, consistently comes up with innovative communication technology implementations. Installing IPTV across its campus was one of them. "But, the roll out of IPTV by TRAI approved operators in Bangalore had taken more time than expected. And we had to create a master TV infrastructure if we wanted BIAL to stay ahead," says Rajan.

To take the TV content feed outside the terminal building is a challenge as the airport needed to run coaxial cable across the campus. So, he decided to converge his IP network. "Now we are geared to deploy IPTV as we have a converged IP network across campus and hence IPTV content can be delivered to any office in the BIAL campus on a separate VLAN," says Rajan.

But Rajan didn't want to stop with just that. He also wanted to equip the airport with mobile check-ins - allowing passengers to check in using their Web-based mobile phones - which is a concept only a handful of airports around the world have. The converged network would help them deliver this in the future. "If the security mandate does allow mobile check-ins, then BIAL would be off the blocks with a few international airlines that have the facility for selective routes," he says.

Also, the IATA has an ongoing 'simplify the business' initiative and the mandate is for all airlines operating in India to conform to 2D bar code standards by 2010. IP convergence has made that possible for the airport. BIAL is the first airport to deploy 2D bar code scanners to accept gate check-ins.

But getting there wasn't easy. "This is a new experience for all airlines in the country and for other stakeholders and acceptance of this mode was a challenge. Convincing the management and the board was another issue, but thanks to the confidence reposed by the management, we could see the fruits of our labor," says Rajan.

The project has not only helped the airport become the first one to comply fully with the IATA's mandate but also future-proofed it to accept mobile check-in, the next wave of travel.

Indian Bank Consolidates Data Centers, Saves Costs

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:43:35 -0500

Kotak Mahindra Bank, was established in 1986. Today it has over 450 offices (including offsite branches and ATMs) and a customer base of over 6.4 million. The company was scrambling to cope up with the dizzying speeds at which it was growing. The bank and the rest of the group's companies couldn't curb mushrooming datacenters, all entwined in a sprawled network infrastructure.

Highlights

-- Despite migration of datacenters to a single one, there was no need for different businesses to change their IP addresses and application URLs.

-- With the help of a path-breaking technologies, IT resources can be used optimally used among group companies and across different shifts, reducing real estate and power costs

With 10 datacenters and 5,000 users scattered all over Mumbai, Sanjay Belsare, head-IT infrastructure, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and his team decided to set it all right. A nine storey, five-lakh-sq.ft. facility was setup in a suburb in Mumbai. "We consolidated the datacenters and converged the data and voice network across Kotak Mahindra Bank and other group companies," says Belsare.

Each entity continues with its existing architecture, which blends into the converged architecture Belsare deployed. Despite migration of datacenters to a single one, there was no need for different businesses to change their IP addresses and application URLs. Also, group companies can follow their own operational, compliance and regulatory processes and within a consolidated infrastructure, thereby saving costs.

But because the IT team deployed emerging, cutting-edge technologies, there were some teething issues. These were resolved by the company's internal team. "With the help of a path-breaking technologies, IT resources can be used optimally used among group companies and across different shifts, reducing real estate and power costs," says Belsare. The project cost about Rs 15 crore (US$3.2 million) and went live in April this year. "We expect to achieve ROI in about 13 to 24 months," says Belsare.

Post the deployment, the group saw an increase in employee collaboration, productivity and efficiency due to wireless LAN mobility across all floors. Moving resources from one group company to the other has also become a lot easier than before. Quite obviously, the project has invigorated the IT backbone of Kotak Mahindra Bank and the other companies of the group, equipping them to cope better with business growth.

Carzonrent Sets Industry Standard With Web Platform

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:38:29 -0500

Carzonrent is one of India's largest car rental companies with over 5,000 cars and operations in 13 cities. It offers end-to-end, long- and short-term car rental solutions to individuals and corporates but is also well known for spearheading the organization of the car rental sector.

But back when Carzonrent launched in 2000, the taxi business in India looked very different. It was disorganized and had none of services that consumers have come to expect today including reservations systems, call centers, and polite, punctual drivers. "A few years ago," says R.K. Vij, CEO, Carzonrent India, "India had only metered or non-metered taxis. A non-metered taxi was called 'rent a car' but it was not really the same thing." The company wanted to change that. It wanted to build a technology-driven, nationally networked car rental company and re-shape the industry.

The Business Case

But before it could get there, the company first needed to change the way the sector - and it - did business. Bookings, for example were, managed manually over the phone, or via fax and e-mail, all of which led to bloated costs and lengthy lead times. Customer invoicing was also done manually, which also resulted in increased operational costs. Worse, the company's standalone applications were not integrated with its payment gateway, giving it little control over payments and cash flow.

"Traditionally, players in the industry used paper registers for reservations," says Vikas Marwah, COO, operations, Carzonrent, alluding to a problem that defined the sector's pandemic lack of refinement. "We decided to break from this league because we were an organized enterprise and wanted to set some new ground rules."

The prevailing decentralized approach also impacted Carzonrent's ability to use its fleet of cars optimally. Different locations ran their own cars separately, making reservation tracking impossible. Rajesh Munjal, head-IT, Carzonrent, witnessed how these inefficiencies are into Carzonrent's revenues. "Our cost per reservation was prohibitive. And credit cards were charged post-service, which resulted in huge revenue loss," he recalls.

Highlights

-- Carzonrent wanted to become a technology-driven, nationally networked car rental company and re-shape the industry.

-- A solution was project INSTA, a Web-based platform that was a sophisticated online reservation management and billing system.

In addition to a 35 percent jump in business volume, drastic reduction in operating cost, it has also resulted in a substantial reduction in communication costs, greater control over the business, and more efficiency.

The Project

The need to fix these issues formed the first glimmers of project INSTA, a Web-based platform that was commissioned in 2008. The project's immediate mandate was to be a sophisticated online reservation management and billing system. On the reservation front, it would give the rental company's customers a way to book themselves cars on their own. And on the billing front it set out to create an integrated payment gateway which would enable the pre-authorization of payments (at the time of reservation) and full charging at the end of a rental. But the system needed to do this across a gamut rental types including chauffeur driven cars, self-driven cars, and cars used for airports drops, among others. It also needed to be scalable and provide real-time information to all the company's offices including the allocations of cars, invoices, and collection.

The First Steps

If the car rental business looks simple from the outside, it is actually quite complex due to of a number of permutations in client requests. "Every individual unit offers different packages to meet customer needs. We had to align the application with all those needs," says Munjal.

This forced him to build multiple functionalities in the system. These included functions that allowed users select their own service and batch requests from corporates, and functions that enabled pre-authorization and online charging of credit cards. Other modules dealt with services that were specific to individual units or customer needs and some to support the business. These challenges were accompanied by a significant change management test since INSTA needed to be implemented at all the company's locations. "Convincing the frontline and operational teams on the benefits of a Web-based reservation system was tough," says Munjal. "It was like changing the way car rental business works. Operations were happy using physical registers and standalone applications." Over time Munjal and other top executives rode past these speed bumps allowing for the implementation of INSTA in a phased manner. Today, it is used at over 50 locations including contact centers, branch offices.

The Bottom Line

Carzonrent invested over Rs. 40 lakhs (US$85,128) in INSTA but it has helped it improve reservation levels significantly. "This deployment has helped us bag very prestigious global accounts. We've seen a 35 percent jump in business volume, while being able to reduce operating cost drastically," says Munjal.

It has also resulted in a substantial reduction in communication costs, greater control over the business, and more efficiency. "INSTA helps us with the yield management of our fleet. It helps us frame our pricing policies and fleet usage practices. We have been also able to achieve higher productivity with the same manpower," says Munjal.

INSTA also opened the door for more possibilities. "Over time, we integrated the payment gateway with MasterCard, Visa and American Express. This has provided a cutting-edge to our business. Customers can log on to our micro-site and get direct car allotment or retrieve their invoices and account statements. There is greater transparency," says Marwah.

And in the long run, it's helping the company live up to its promise to re-define the industry.

IT projects reactivated in 2010: Robert Walters

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:26:47 -0500

There is growing evidence of previously suspended IT projects and commercial activities being reactivated, plus an increased demand for information technologies professionals across the Asia Pacific.

These are among the key findings of the Asia Job Index Q4 2009 released today in Singapore by major international recruitment consultancy Robert Walters.

The Robert Walters Job Index tracks advertisement volumes for professional positions across the leading job boards and national newspapers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

It found a 37.1 per cent increase in job advertisements placed in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. The total number of job advertisements increased by 12.8 per cent compared with the previous quarter.

The Index report said the "overall growth in job advertising is indicative of a return of employer confidence".

Resilient industries

The Robert Walters Salary Survey 2010, released simultaneously with the Job Index, found that the pharmaceuticals, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), retail and telecommunications sectors were the most resilient and had the biggest increase in jobs.

Mark Elwood, managing director of Roberts Walters, Southeast Asia, said towards the end of 2009, although many employers remained cautious and costs were still a key focus, "we began to see some organisations increase their hiring activity".

For the IT industry, the financial services sector saw an increased demand for IT contractors in response to uncertain market conditions as well as to circumvent headcount restrictions.

The second half of 2009 saw spikes in demands for solutions architects, service delivery managers, pre-sales professionals and security specialists.

Andrea Ross, Robert Walters' managing director of Singapore, said there remains a talent shortage in Singapore, within some sectors of financial services.

Increased contracting

"Contracting roles have continued to grow irrespective of the market, due to companies wanting a more flexible workforce and not restricting themselves to hire individuals on a permanent basis," Ross said.

"Sectors that have seen a steady recovery include oil and gas, heavy equipment, security, semiconductors and IT and we see an increase in hiring activity across various levels."

In Hong Kong, higher levels of recruitment activity were seen in the second half of 2009 "as organisations, which had perhaps cut headcount too deeply, struggled to cope with increased commercial activity levels".

In China, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and medical devices sectors drove increased levels of recruitment activity throughout the year.

In Malaysia, the RW Salary Survey 2010 found that "increasing levels of confidence are likely to raise expectations of higher salaries and bonuses in 2010".

In Thailand, social unrest led to a number of organisations exiting the country during the first half of 2009. The most active sectors were energy, consumer business and supply chain. The RW report said that "increasingly levels of confidence are likely to raise expectations of higher salaries and bonuses in 2010".

Can Google Generate Buzz in the Enterprise?

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:23:32 -0500

Google dove into the deep end of social networking this morning with the announcement of Google Buzz. In addition to providing a platform for users to share information, status updates, pictures, and videos with their social network, Google also wants enterprises to embrace Buzz as a business tool.

Google Buzz is an ambitious project for Google, but then Google doesn't ever seem to take on projects that don't challenge established rules and paradigms. Google also seems to be on a quest to dominate every facet of technology, and not at all content to leave the lucrative and exploding social networking market to the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Google co-founder and president Sergey Brin explained how Google Buzz could provide value in an enterprise. He described a scenario he encountered while writing an op-ed article for the New York Times. Brin wanted to include a broader viewpoint than his own opinion, so he posted the draft article in Google Buzz and quickly generated 50 or more responses, enabling his social network to collaborate in real-time and compress the timeframe normally required for editing and feedback.

The ability to collaborate in real-time is an aspiration for many enterprise solutions. Unified communications platforms like Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 integrate with Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Live Meeting, and other tools to enable peers and partners to work together online in real-time. Google Docs also strives to deliver real-time collaboration, and Google recently acquired AppJet to redefine real-time updates and improve the responsiveness of Google Docs.

Google incorporated real-time Twitter results into searches on the Google Search Appliance back in December. Google product manager Cyrus Mistry stated "Social information is important for businesses: employees searching for information needed to do their jobs benefit from real-time news too. They might be developing a new breakfast cereal, or designing a marketing plan for a clothing line, or writing strategy report for a political campaign. In all of these cases, understanding what is being said just as Twitter users are saying it can be invaluable."

One hiccup facing Google in delivering an integrated social networking experience as a business tool is that many of the popular consumer products do not work with Google Apps Premier Edition. Users on Google Apps Premier e-mail accounts are forced to log out, and log-in using their personal Gmail account in order to access services like Picasa.

On one level that makes sense. There are security and privacy concerns related to social networking, and IT administrators have to be cautious about exposing the network to risk, and the potential for sensitive information being compromised via social networks.

On the other hand, social networking is a valuable tool for businesses to leverage for marketing, public relations, and customer support. Organizations of all sizes are struggling to define the role of social networking in the workplace so it makes sense that Google would draw a line in the sand between its enterprise and consumer offerings.

A tool like Google Buzz, however, relies on the web of connections users have established in their social networks, and loses much of its appeal without the ability to integrate Picasa, YouTube, and other such services. Users don't want to have to manage dual personas, so Google needs to figure out how to integrate the enterprise and consumer services, but provide IT administrators with the tools necessary to restrict or deny access.

Google is rolling out Google Buzz to all Gmail accounts beginning today, but when asked when Google Buzz for enterprise can be expected, the panel of Google execs said there is no established ETA beyond just "soon".

Hopefully Google Buzz, and its enterprise counterpart, can live up to the hype better than recent Google revolutions like Google Wave or the Nexus One.

Tony Bradley tweets as @Tony_BradleyPCW, and can be contacted at his Facebook page.

Google Gives In On Nexus One Fees, Support

IDG News Service — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:21:46 -0500

Google may be busy buzzing about new services this week, but behind the scenes, the G-Team is quietly working to fine-tune its last major endeavor.

I'm talking, of course, about the Nexus One. Google has made a handful of significant changes to its first self-sold Android phone over the past several days, slowly but surely responding to criticism and adjusting its approach. From slicing supersized fees to expanding support options, Google seems focused on fixing the negative perception that surrounded the phone's launch.

Google's Nexus One Early Termination Fee

First, the fees: When the Nexus One entered the world, it didn't take long for people to realize this baby was a bit different. Thanks to the atypical sales setup of the subsidized phone -- you're buying the handset from Google, but using it with T-Mobile -- the contract essentially doubled up on early termination fees.

The problem was that both Google and T-Mobile were piling on their own fees: $350 from Google and $200 from T-Mobile if you decided to bail early. All combined, then, you'd face a whopping $550 in penalty charges for cancelling your service within the first four months.

No matter how you look at it, that's a lot of shekels. Even the much-maligned AT&T charges only $175 for cancelling an iPhone contract early, and Verizon's recently doubled rate still reaches only the $350 mark. Heck, the Nexus One itself doesn't even cost $550 -- you can buy the thing unlocked for $529.

Customers weren't the only ones complaining about the oddly high demand; the FCC also started asking questions. Now, Google has changed its game, cutting its fee by more than 50 percent down to $150. T-Mobile's $200 early termination charge still stands, meaning the grand total for getting out of a Nexus One contract within the first four months is now $350 -- the same as what you'd pay on Verizon.

Nexus One Customer Support

Google's other about-face comes in a highly criticized area of its Nexus One approach: customer service. Initially, the phone was supported primarily through an online forum operated by Google. Customers complained about having to wait multiple days for responses; attempts to contact either HTC or T-Mobile directly, users said, left them in a maze of endless call-transfers and cross-company referrals.

Google seemingly listened to the gripes: The company has set up a toll-free support line for Nexus One ordering issues and has also posted a number for technical support via HTC. Both hotlines have live agents available -- and, despite some strange rumors that the operators are actually all goats, communication doesn't seem to be a problem.

Google's Smartphone Future

Farm fun aside, the Nexus One fix-it list rolls on: The phone recently received an over-the-air update that delivered native multitouch functionality and a handful of other software improvements. The improvements included a tweak to eliminate 3G connectivity issues as well as a new synchronization-ready version of the Google Maps Android app.

Following the Nexus One's first week in the wild, I suggested that if Google could fix its customer support and connectivity problems, it might just be sitting pretty. As I pointed out at the time, the Nexus sales estimates may not be through the roof -- but the goals surrounding the phone are likely far broader than any raw numbers can measure.

The Nexus One marks the beginning of a new kind of distribution model headed up by Google. At its launch, Google's Android team hinted at the future growth in mind for the company's new platform-centric phone store. With the initial kinks slowly coming under control, I suspect we'll soon start to see how those big picture goals could begin playing out.

JR Raphael frequently covers mobile technology for both PCWorld and eSarcasm, his geek-humor getaway. He's on Facebook: facebook.com/The.JR.Raphael