BBC NEWS
US 'no longer technology king'
The US has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.
The US is now ranked seventh in the body's league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations.
A deterioration of the political and regulatory environment in the US prompted the fall, the report said.
The top spot went for the first time to Denmark, followed by Sweden.
Innovation
Countries were judged on the integration of technology in business, the infrastructure available, government policy favourable for fostering a culture of innovation and progress and leadership in promoting the usage of the latest information technology tools.
The Networked Readiness Index, the sixth of its kind published by the World Economic Forum with Insead, the Paris-based business school, scrutinised progress in 122 economies worldwide.
Despite losing its top position, the US still maintained a strong focus on innovation, driven by one of the world's best tertiary education systems and its high degree of co-operation with industry, the report said.
NETWORKED READINESS INDEX RANKINGS 2006 (2005)
1: Denmark (3)
2: Sweden (8)
3: Singapore (2)
4: Finland (5)
5: Switzerland (9)
6: Netherlands (12)
7: US (1)
8: Iceland (4)
9: UK (10)
10: Norway (13)
Source: WEF
The country's efficient market environment, conducive to the availability of venture capital, and the sophistication of financial markets, was also given recognition.
Nordic crown
Denmark is now regarded as the world leader in technological advancement, with its Nordic neighbours Sweden, Finland and Norway claiming second, fourth and 10th place respectively.
"Denmark, in particular, has benefited from the very effective government e-leadership, reflected in early liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, a first-rate regulatory environment and large availability of e-government services," said Irene Mia, senior economist at World Economic Forum.
European countries to make the top 20 included Switzerland in fifth place, the Netherlands, one of the most improved in sixth, the UK (nine), Germany (16), Austria (17) and Estonia (20).
While countries from Asia and the Pacific continued to progress, the powerhouse economies of China and India both showed a downward trend.
India was four positions down on last year to 44th, suffering from weak infrastructure and a very low level of individual usage of personal computers and the internet.
China was knocked to 59th place, nine positions down, with information technology uptake in Chinese firms lagging.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6502725.stm
Published: 2007/03/29 11:06:25 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
ICANN speaks out for registrar reform
ICANN's register accreditation process is about to be reformed through the termination of RegisterFly.com. Due to its failure of operation, 75,000 domain name losses were filed in federal court in January and early February of this year and ICANN decided to close it. Therefore, thousands of its registrants have to transfer their domain names to a different ICANN-accredited registrar by March 31, 2007. Continued doubt about its ability to coordinate hundreds of registrars might have a solution through the coming Lisbon meeting between March 26 and March 30, 2007.
ICANN speaks out for registrar reform
Dr Twomey drops the dime
By Burke Hansen
Published Thursday 22nd March 2007
... ICANN has now called for an overhaul of the entire registration and accreditation process, and given the first look at what the future of the relationship between ICANN, the registrars, and domain holders might look like.
"What has happened to registrants with RegisterFly.com has made it clear there must be comprehensive review of the registrar accreditation process and the content of the RAA (Registrar Accreditation Agreement), Dr Twomey emphasized. "This is going to be a key debate at our Lisbon meeting scheduled for 26 March to 30 March 2007. There must be clear decisions made on changes. As a community we cannot put this off."
Tough talk from an organization generally considered toothless.
Dr Twomey's strongly worded statement continued: "ICANN introduced competition to the domain name market in 1998. Back then there was one registrar. There are now over 865. That's a good thing because it has made domain names cheaper and offered more choice. But the RAA was designed and signed when the domain name market was much smaller. The market now supports about 70 million generic TLD names and is growing. Registrants suffer most from weaknesses in the RAA and I want to make sure that ICANN's accreditation process and our agreement gives us the ability to respond more strongly and flexibly in the future."
The announcement listed a plethora of problems with the current system, in which ICANN has little authority over a corrupt or derelict registrar other than to yank the accreditation.
Proposals for what ICANN's role in organizing the structure of the internet should be, or if ICANN is the right group to do it at all, are legion, and could fill an entire conference on their own. Still, the list of options on the table for discussion shows that ICANN is tired of screwing around with Registerfly, and wants to institutionalize changes along the lines advocated by El Reg in the last few weeks.
The most important issue - some kind of escrow system to hold data in trust in the event that there is a dispute about who the owner is - has apparently already been accepted as necessary by ICANN, and even bolder proposals, involving possibly even a new entity to address these disputes directly, are also on this impressive list of potential reforms...
From The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/22/icann_registerfly_reform_registrar/
ICANN speaks out for registrar reform
Dr Twomey drops the dime
By Burke Hansen
Published Thursday 22nd March 2007
... ICANN has now called for an overhaul of the entire registration and accreditation process, and given the first look at what the future of the relationship between ICANN, the registrars, and domain holders might look like.
"What has happened to registrants with RegisterFly.com has made it clear there must be comprehensive review of the registrar accreditation process and the content of the RAA (Registrar Accreditation Agreement), Dr Twomey emphasized. "This is going to be a key debate at our Lisbon meeting scheduled for 26 March to 30 March 2007. There must be clear decisions made on changes. As a community we cannot put this off."
Tough talk from an organization generally considered toothless.
Dr Twomey's strongly worded statement continued: "ICANN introduced competition to the domain name market in 1998. Back then there was one registrar. There are now over 865. That's a good thing because it has made domain names cheaper and offered more choice. But the RAA was designed and signed when the domain name market was much smaller. The market now supports about 70 million generic TLD names and is growing. Registrants suffer most from weaknesses in the RAA and I want to make sure that ICANN's accreditation process and our agreement gives us the ability to respond more strongly and flexibly in the future."
The announcement listed a plethora of problems with the current system, in which ICANN has little authority over a corrupt or derelict registrar other than to yank the accreditation.
Proposals for what ICANN's role in organizing the structure of the internet should be, or if ICANN is the right group to do it at all, are legion, and could fill an entire conference on their own. Still, the list of options on the table for discussion shows that ICANN is tired of screwing around with Registerfly, and wants to institutionalize changes along the lines advocated by El Reg in the last few weeks.
The most important issue - some kind of escrow system to hold data in trust in the event that there is a dispute about who the owner is - has apparently already been accepted as necessary by ICANN, and even bolder proposals, involving possibly even a new entity to address these disputes directly, are also on this impressive list of potential reforms...
From The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/22/icann_registerfly_reform_registrar/
Injunction in Vonage Patent Row
BBC NEWS
Injunction in Vonage patent row
A US judge has banned internet phone firm Vonage from using technology patents owned by rival Verizon after it was found to have infringed its rights.
A permanent injunction was issued on Vonage using the technology to connect users to landline phones but it was stayed for two weeks pending an appeal. Vonage was told to pay $58m (£30m) to Verizon for infringing three patents, as well as royalties on future sales.
Vonage is a pioneer in the market for voice-over-internet telephony.
'Customer erosion'
This allows users to make cheap phone calls.
Vonage shares dropped 6% on the news of the injunction, which it is likely to appeal.
Some industry experts believe Vonage's phone services to its 2.2 million customers could be hit by its loss of the patent case.
But Vonage said that despite the injunction, its business would not be affected because it would switch to different technologies to connect customers.
Judge Claude Hilton said a permanent injunction was justified, on top of damages, since compensation alone did not prevent "continued erosion" of Verizon's client base.
Verizon - one of the largest telecoms firms in the US - argued that continued use of its patents would do "irreperable harm" to the firm in terms of customer defections.
Vonage argued that an injunction would be against the public interest.
In the original court case, Verizon claimed the violations cost it more than $280m while Vonage argued Verizon should not have been granted the patents in the first place.
Analysts believe the dispute has reduced loss-making Vonage's chance of being bought out.
Vonage floated on the New York Stock Exchange last year but has made heavy losses since.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6486671.stm
Published: 2007/03/23 17:26:03 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Injunction in Vonage patent row
A US judge has banned internet phone firm Vonage from using technology patents owned by rival Verizon after it was found to have infringed its rights.
A permanent injunction was issued on Vonage using the technology to connect users to landline phones but it was stayed for two weeks pending an appeal. Vonage was told to pay $58m (£30m) to Verizon for infringing three patents, as well as royalties on future sales.
Vonage is a pioneer in the market for voice-over-internet telephony.
'Customer erosion'
This allows users to make cheap phone calls.
Vonage shares dropped 6% on the news of the injunction, which it is likely to appeal.
Some industry experts believe Vonage's phone services to its 2.2 million customers could be hit by its loss of the patent case.
But Vonage said that despite the injunction, its business would not be affected because it would switch to different technologies to connect customers.
Judge Claude Hilton said a permanent injunction was justified, on top of damages, since compensation alone did not prevent "continued erosion" of Verizon's client base.
Verizon - one of the largest telecoms firms in the US - argued that continued use of its patents would do "irreperable harm" to the firm in terms of customer defections.
Vonage argued that an injunction would be against the public interest.
In the original court case, Verizon claimed the violations cost it more than $280m while Vonage argued Verizon should not have been granted the patents in the first place.
Analysts believe the dispute has reduced loss-making Vonage's chance of being bought out.
Vonage floated on the New York Stock Exchange last year but has made heavy losses since.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6486671.stm
Published: 2007/03/23 17:26:03 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
EU Charges Sony With Price Fixing
EU Charges Sony With Price Fixing
By Adam Cohen
Word Count: 187 | Companies Featured in This Article: Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Fujifilm Holdings, Hitachi Maxell, TDK
BRUSSELS -- European Union antitrust regulators have charged Sony Corp. with price fixing in the market for professional videotapes, the company said Tuesday.
The Japanese electronics maker received the European commission's legal charges and is "looking into them," ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117441126546042946.html
Friday, March 9, 2007
EU leaders agree to cut greenhouse gases
From the Houston Chronicle
EU leaders agree to cut greenhouse gases
© 2007 The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium — EU leaders agreed Friday on a bold set of measures to fight global warming, pledging that a fifth of the bloc's energy will come from green power sources such as wind turbines and solar panels by 2020 and 10 percent of European cars will run on biofuels.
At French insistence, the deal — which does not yet include an enforcement mechanism — noted the role atomic energy could play in replacing coal- or oil-fired power plants blamed for pumping out greenhouse gases. The inclusion caused unease for non-nuclear states such as Austria and Ireland and triggered complaints from environmental groups.
European leaders said the agreement, the first to go beyond the 35-nation Kyoto Protocol in its targets for greenhouse gas emissions cuts, marked a turning point in the fight against global warming.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel challenged other nations to follow suit, saying the world still had time to "avoid what could well be a human calamity" caused by climate change.
The EU deal was a compromise between nations that had demanded mandatory targets on clean energy, and eastern European nations led by Poland and Slovakia who had said they did not have the money to meet such high targets for developing costly alternatives.
The deal makes three main promises to be obtained by over the next 13 years:
_ Greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by at least 20 percent from 1990 levels;
_ The EU will produce 20 percent of its power through renewable energy, an increase from the current figure of around 6 percent;
_ One-tenth of all cars and trucks in the 27 EU nations should be running on biofuels made from plants.
"These are a set of groundbreaking, bold, ambitious targets," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It gives Europe a clear leadership position on this crucial issue facing the world."
European leaders hope their commitment to tackling climate change will encourage other leading polluters, such as the United States, Russia, China and India, to agree on deep emissions cuts.
Merkel plans to present the plans to President Bush and other leaders at a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations that she will host in June.
"We can once again say to the rest of the world, Europe is taking the lead, you should join us in fighting climate change," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. He called the deal "the most ambitious package ever agreed by any institution on energy security and climate change."
EU lawyers still have to draw up the detailed rules specifying how the deal will be enforced, however Barroso said the legislation "will be subject to all instruments of community law." That implies that the EU's executive arm would be able to launch legal action at the bloc's high court that could lead to the imposition of heavy fines on countries that violate the targets.
The EU's environmental agenda is to be pursued in parallel with commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. treaty on climate change.
Major EU economies have committed to cut greenhouse gases by 8 percent below 1990 levels by 2012, and want the United States to sign the treaty. The Bush administration has rejected the Kyoto agreement, saying it would hurt the U.S. economy.
Eastern European nations, which preferred to stay with cheaper, but more polluting options such as coal and oil, went along with the deal after western nations conceded that individual targets would be set for each EU member within the overall goal of 20 percent renewable energy use.
"The text changed significantly following our pressure," said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. "The final deal gives us lots of room for maneuver."
Many of the former Communist nations that joined the EU in 2004 lag behind their western neighbors in developing clean fuel. Although their economies are growing fast, most are still struggling to catch up and say they need more time to meet the 20 percent target.
Cooler, landlocked countries such as Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic argued that they were handicapped in developing wind, solar and water-based power sources, which are widely used in countries such as Denmark and Spain.
The French, Czechs, Slovaks and others argued that nuclear power could play a crucial part in helping Europe move away from carbon fuels. The agreement says each EU nation should decide whether to use nuclear power, but takes note of a Commission report that says nuclear energy could contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and help alleviate worries about security of energy supply. It also stresses the need to improve nuclear safety.
Austria, Ireland and Denmark did not want the EU to sanction nuclear power, and the German government is split over whether to develop atomic energy. "
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Woohoo for DIY media
From BBC News:
Radio goes the open source route
A new generation of broadcasters are to join the world's airwaves after the launch of open-source software which allows people to run a radio station from a single computer for free.
Campcaster takes a regular PC and turns it into a tool for managing every aspect of a radio station broadcast.
The software is the idea of the non-profit Media Development Loan Fund, which aims to support independent news media in emerging democracies.
Developer Douglas Arellanes told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme that as well as playing files, which can be done from any media player, Campcaster adds features specifically for radio broadcasting and uses it for all aspects of a radio station, such as the ability to stored and schedule music, line up news clips and interviews, and preview listen to a record before it is played on air.
"You can now pretty much run your radio station off a notebook computer," he said.
Cost and piracy
Until relatively recently, running a radio station required a large amount of hardware, some of it rather complex - and most of it expensive.
Mr Arellanes explained that the software had been developed specifically to tackle this.
"The most important thing about Campcaster is that you don't have to be in the studio listening to the music - you can be sat at home and still operate your studio," he said.
With an open source system, you can actually add on new features as you see fit
Douglas Ariennes, Campcaster developer
"If you want a good playout system, it's going to cost you more than $1,000 just for the licence - and that's only for one computer.
"What we find is that when we go out to various radio stations in lots of different places in the world, that a lot of stations are using pirated software, and that's just wrong.
"Even though we support open source, we're dead against using pirated software. So we said, 'well that's a very strong reason right there - cost and piracy'.
"But there was another thing that we found, which is flexibility. With an open source system, you can actually add on new features as you see fit."
One of these new features is to be the ability to integrate what is played out with a station's website, so that details of the actual track being played can be seen, as opposed to simply the title of the programme.
The most recent version of the software was rolled out in Sierra Leone, and is named after the country's capital Freetown. It is being used in both universities and small communities.
Sahr Gborie, of development group Sierra E Riders, said he had found Campcaster to be "a very good piece of software for broadcasting".
"We have installed it on several radio stations," he added.
"They are finding it easier to present news and do their radio presentations."
Three Ways to Listen Digital Planet
Your guide to the digital world
Radio goes the open source route
A new generation of broadcasters are to join the world's airwaves after the launch of open-source software which allows people to run a radio station from a single computer for free.
Campcaster takes a regular PC and turns it into a tool for managing every aspect of a radio station broadcast.
The software is the idea of the non-profit Media Development Loan Fund, which aims to support independent news media in emerging democracies.
Developer Douglas Arellanes told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme that as well as playing files, which can be done from any media player, Campcaster adds features specifically for radio broadcasting and uses it for all aspects of a radio station, such as the ability to stored and schedule music, line up news clips and interviews, and preview listen to a record before it is played on air.
"You can now pretty much run your radio station off a notebook computer," he said.
Cost and piracy
Until relatively recently, running a radio station required a large amount of hardware, some of it rather complex - and most of it expensive.
Mr Arellanes explained that the software had been developed specifically to tackle this.
"The most important thing about Campcaster is that you don't have to be in the studio listening to the music - you can be sat at home and still operate your studio," he said.
With an open source system, you can actually add on new features as you see fit
Douglas Ariennes, Campcaster developer
"If you want a good playout system, it's going to cost you more than $1,000 just for the licence - and that's only for one computer.
"What we find is that when we go out to various radio stations in lots of different places in the world, that a lot of stations are using pirated software, and that's just wrong.
"Even though we support open source, we're dead against using pirated software. So we said, 'well that's a very strong reason right there - cost and piracy'.
"But there was another thing that we found, which is flexibility. With an open source system, you can actually add on new features as you see fit."
One of these new features is to be the ability to integrate what is played out with a station's website, so that details of the actual track being played can be seen, as opposed to simply the title of the programme.
The most recent version of the software was rolled out in Sierra Leone, and is named after the country's capital Freetown. It is being used in both universities and small communities.
Sahr Gborie, of development group Sierra E Riders, said he had found Campcaster to be "a very good piece of software for broadcasting".
"We have installed it on several radio stations," he added.
"They are finding it easier to present news and do their radio presentations."
Three Ways to Listen Digital Planet
Your guide to the digital world
'Happy slap' crackdown sparks row
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/08/france.violence.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
• New law in France forbids filming and Net posting of real-world violence
• Critics call it a clumsy, near-totalitarian effort to battle "happy slapping"
• Violators of the law will be subject to up to 5 years' jail and €75,000 in fines
• Critics call it a clumsy, near-totalitarian effort to battle "happy slapping"
• Violators of the law will be subject to up to 5 years' jail and €75,000 in fines
PARIS, France (AP) -- A new law in France makes it a crime -- punishable by up to five years in prison -- for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film real-world violence and distribute the images on the Internet.
Critics call it a clumsy, near-totalitarian effort by authorities to battle "happy slapping" -- the youth fad of filming violent acts -- which most often they have provoked themselves -- and spreading the images on the Web or between mobile phones.
The measure, tucked deep into a vast anti-crime law that took effect Wednesday, took media advocates by surprise with what they say is an undesirable side effect: trampling on freedom of expression.
Experts said the law is the first of its kind in Europe. France made headlines years ago by ordering U.S.-based online company Yahoo to pay a fine of about $15 million for displaying Nazi memorabilia for sale -- in violation of French law.
The new provision takes on "happy slapping," a phenomenon whose name belies the gravity of the attacks. It mostly involves youths, and the victims often are strangers.
Violators of the law, passed in parliament in February, will be subject to up to five years in prison and €75,000 in fines ($98,600). It was championed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who is a top contender in France's presidential election in April and May.
The law was published in the government's Official Journal on Wednesday, bringing it into effect, after the Constitutional Council gave its final approval over the weekend.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Australian state bans YouTube in schools to stop bullying
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/01032007/323/australian-state-bans-youtube-schools-stop-bullying.html
Australian state bans YouTube in schools to stop bullying
| ||
| |
The move follows public outrage after a group of schoolboys filmed themselves sexually abusing and degrading a teenage girl and uploaded the video onto YouTube.
The horrific film showed a group of 12 youths surrounding the 17-year-old girl, who has a mild mental disability, bullying her to perform sex acts, urinating on her and setting her hair alight.
The education minister in southern Victoria state, where the attack took place, said Thursday the state's 1,600 public schools would block access to YouTube.
"The (state) government has never tolerated bullying in schools and this zero tolerance approach extends to the online world," said Jacinta Allan.
"All students have the right to learn in a safe and supportive learning environment -- this includes making students' experience of the virtual world of learning as safe and productive as possible," she said.
The director of Australia's High Tech Crime Centre, Kevin Zuccato, said at the time of the attack on the girl late last year that it was a disturbing example of cyber-bullying.
"Cyber-bullying between children online is on the rise," he said. "Social networking sites are also putting children at risk."
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