Google squeezed by Europe again

330ogleGoogle is facing further pressure from the European Commission over its dominance of the search market.

EC competion czar Joaquin Almunia said that the organisation is likely to take a look into its Android mobile operating system as well as its dominance in the mobile market.

The EC first started an investigation into possible abuse of its leading position in 2010, and believes the search giant may be anti-competitive.

Last weekend, Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google, said on his blog that his company’s search engine was just part of the web landscape.  That follows adverts from a group of publishers accusing the company is too dominant .  It has an estimated 90 percent market share in Europe.

Schmidt rebutted those claims, saying that it isn’t promoting its own products at the expense of its competition. People often go directly to news sites and go to travel sites directly, rather than using Google.

He claimed that the increasing use of apps on smartphones and tablets bypassed Google completely.  He claims that Google is just interested in helping users.

Google is not evil.  But it’s not a non-profit organisation.

Storage software gets boost

emcRevenues from the worldwide storage software market rose by 6.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to figures from IDC.

It said revenues during Q2 2014 came to nearly $3.8 billion.

The leaders in the pack were  EMC, IBM and Symantec which had markt shares of 25.9 percent, 16 percent and 13.3 percent respectively.

Data protection and recovery software showed bigger growth, up 10.2 percent in the quarter, compared to the same quarter in 2013.  Revenues for those totalled $1.45 billion. storage infrastructure sales amounted to $448 million.  Storage and device management software sales rose by 4.1 percent to stand at $708 million.

Eric Sheppard, research director of storage software at IDC said there was broad growth over most markets.

”Sales of data protection and recovery software accounted for almost 60 percent of the spending during the quarter, driven by a market wide move to improve application resiliency, continued uptake in appliance based offering and healthy attach rates within the integrated systems market”, he said.

Homes to be packed with gizmos

chateauIn just eight years time, ordinary family homes will be bursting with technology.

That’s a prediction market research firm Gartner is making for 2022.  Its report said a home in affluent societies, at least, could have over 500 smart devices.

So what are these devices to be?  It estimates a wide range of domestic equipment will become “smart”, inasmuch as they’ll include some level of sensing and intelligence and the ability to communicate wirelessly.

And such vacuum cleaners and washing machines won’t cost more to have “smartness”, with semiconductor economies of scale meaning that a chip won’t cost more than about one US dollar.

Your cooker will be smart, your TVs will be smart, your fitness equipment will be smart, your security will be smart, your toaster will be smart. Everything will be smart as the internet of things starts to cast its spell over our world.

But it won’t be all plain sailing, because ordinary people might not want all this “smartness”.  Products which incorporate intelligence must be easy to use and not require a degree in geekiness. And if smartness can’t be relied upon and start failing – well your house might not be such a home.

BBC wades into VPN pirates.

Capture-of-BlackbeardThe BBC has told the Australian government that it would be wise to consider all users of VPNs as pirates.

In a submission to the Australian Government on the issue of online piracy, the BBC said that ISPs should be obliged to monitor their customers’ activities.

If a punter uses VPN-style services and consume a lot of bandwidth it should be assumed that they are stealing content.

BBC Worldwide has now presented its own views to the Aussie Federal Government and it is clear that the corporation wants new anti-piracy measures to go further than ever before.

The BBC moaned that the recent leaking of the new series of Doctor Who to file-sharing networks acted “as a spoiler” to the official global TV premiere.

“Despite the BBC dedicating considerable resources to taking down and blocking access to these Doctor Who materials, there were almost 13,000 download attempts of these materials from Australian IP addresses in the period between their unauthorised access and the expiration of the usual catch-up windows,” the BBC wrote.

The BBC wants to ISPs leant on and set up a graduated response scheme of educational messages backed up by punitive measures for the most persistent of infringers.

Those sanctions could lead to a throttling of a users’ internet connection but should not normally lead to a complete disconnection.

The BBC said that ISPs should not only forward notices, but also spy on their customers’ Internet usage habits.

Aunty said that the situation has been made worse by the adoption of virtual private networks and proxy servers by some users, allowing them to circumvent geo-blocking technologies and further evade detection.

In Australia, the sticking point is who should pay for all this. The ISPs believe they should not have to pay for anything, but the BBC thinks that the costs need to be shared.

“In light of the fact that a large inducement for internet users to become customers of ISPs is to gain access to content (whether legally or illegally), it is paramount that ISPs are required to take an active role in preventing and fighting online copyright infringement by establishing and contributing meaningfully to the cost of administering some form of graduated response scheme,” the BBC wrote.

Intel expands Xeon E5 family

The-Meaning-of-Life-monty-python-17864160-852-480Intel has expanded its Xeon E5 family and giving them higher core counts, the more advanced Haswell-EP architecture, and DDR4.

The result, at least on paper, turns the E5 into a top of the range server chip and a big leap for the entire Xeon E5 series.

The Xeon E5 v2 chips, based on Ivy Bridge, topped out at 12 cores per socket, however the new cores can manage 18 cores per socket.

What makes the new chips slightly less appealing is that there is an increase in the power draw, the Xeon E5 v2 family ranged from 50W to 150W, whereas the Xeon E5 v3 family will span 55W – 160W in a single workstation configuration.

It is all possible because of the Haswell architecture which doubled certain cache bandwidths and introduced features like AVX2, which offers a theoretical near-doubling of floating point performance.

AVX2 did not turn out as sexy as Intel had hoped because most consumer software does not got a benefit from using it.

But in high performance computing, database processing, and other enterprise tasks it is starting to get noticed. Intel has also provided full support for DDR4. Exactly how much DDR4 you can use per socket will depend on your the clock speed and the restrictions on these systems are fairly tight. DDR4-1866 will only allow two DIMMs per channel.

Other features include integrated USB 3.0 support, a full suite of SATA 6G ports, and up to four 10 GigE ports.

 

Ad-blocking software? Sheesh!

adblock-bannedAd blocking software is to the publishing industry what Napster was to the music business..

According to a report compiled by PageFair, more internet users are blocking adverts than ever before,  with the rate more than doubling over the course of last year.

More than 150 million browsers are using some form of ad blocker, the vast majority  using plug-ins for either Google’s Chrome or Mozilla’s Firefox browser.

Sean Blanchfield of PageFair said the figures were significantly larger than expected.

Ad blocking is most popular with younger users and used by 41 percent of American internet users aged between 18 and 29.

It seems that the adblockers are used by exactly the kind of people that advertisers want — millennials.

Blanchfield said that the software as “like the Napster of the advertising industry” and publishers are going to have to fight it.

He thinks that adverts need to change so that they are less intrusive and less likely to drive users to adblock software.

At the moment advertising online is annoying often demanding attention, such as a click to make it go away.

Amazon sells smartphone for 99 cents

fire-phoneAll those who paid over the odds for an Amazon smartphone will probably be gathering together their pitchforks and torches for a lynching.

When Amazon released its Fire smartphone, analysts wondered what it was playing at. Amazon’s Fire tablets had done rather well because they were subsidised, but the bookseller had put out a smartphone which was not only unsubsidised but also rather expensive.

As a product the phone was not that bad. It had a dynamic perspective screen that gives it a 3D look. It also has a new feature, Firefly, that lets users capture in physical objects, text and tag content from TV or radio, with the press of a button.

You could find better on the market for the sort of price that Amazon wanted for it. It appears that after a few weeks, no one wanted to buy one.

Now six weeks after hitting the market, Amazon is slashing the price of its Fire Phone to just 99 cents with a two-year contract.

For 99 cents, the Fire Phone will come with unlimited cloud storage for photos as well as a free year of Amazon Prime. The Fire Phone comes with 32GB of storage, so the new, lower cost is a pretty good deal.

The Fire Phone is only available on AT&T in the United States; the 99 cent offer is available both on Amazon.com and AT&T’s website as well as in AT&T stores.

A price drop this soon is not an encouraging sign that the Fire Phone is doing well and it is not clear if there will be any form of subsidy when the Fire hits the UK later.

 

Apple is in the Last Chance saloon

last-chance Today Apple will get a chance to spin its way out of trouble with one of its product presentations.

While its allies in the journalism world have been doing their best to sacrifice their credibility by peddling rumours about what Apple is going to show off, it is almost certainly going to be the long delayed Smartwatch and another iPhone.

But Apple has not had a new product for four years and many believe it needs to come up with something new or lose its reputation as an innovator to some of its rivals.

And this is where it has a problem. It only has a smartwatch and a phablet, both of which have been done to death by rivals.

No doubt presenting these shiny toys will get Apple CEO Tim Cook a standing ovation, but getting one of those at an Apple rally is like getting one at a Tory Party conference.

Apple will also get fanboys queuing for their new iPhone and some, no doubt will want one of these watches.

But the question many should be asking is “is any of this new, or innovative and will it keep Apple relevant?”

The creation of the mobile phone actually killed off the wristwatch and many people would require training to put one back on. So far smartwatches have found their place amongst those who want to measure their heart rates while doing exercise. This is not a big target market, and there is some competition out there for Apple.

Apple got away with its launches into the smartphone and the tablet market because what it presented was largely new.  Smartphones had been around, but they were ugly, clunkly and very expensive. Apple pushed its tablets to consumers, something that Microsoft had ruled out and had some success.

But the field has changed. Apple is competing on all fronts with rivals who have cheaper and in some cases better products.

The Phablet is a case in point. Apple fanboys mocked phablet owns for holding large phones to their ears, and yet the phone’s usability in comparison to smaller phones became clear fast.

Apple had to eat humble pie and admit that it had it wrong when it came to phablet size, in the same way that it had to admit that it was wrong about people wanting smaller tablets.

In all these things Apple has been playing catch-up and is not doing that well.

Analysts appear optimistic that Apple will pull another rabbit out of a hat. Michael Yoshikami, CEO of Destination Wealth Management told Reuters that Apple’s pipeline is finally going to satisfy those who have wondered if the company has any new products.

But even if Cook wows them with products at today’s rally, it is a long way before products will hit the market. Word on the street is that the Smartwatch is still not ready and unlikely to go on sale until sometime in 2015. Apple may not even reveal its price on today.

Apple was planning to show off its iCloud based products, such as Mobile Wallet. Apple has reportedly struck deals with Visa, MasterCard and American Express. It has also come up with its “HealthKit” data service earlier this year made it clear that it sees its products helping consumers manage personal health information. By incorporating the HealthKit service into the iPhone 6, and by packing its smartwatch with sensors capable of monitoring physical movements and heart rates, Apple could lay the groundwork for a broader push into mobile healthcare.

The problem for Apple is the recent iCloud security scandal which saw countless starlets have their naked pictures put online. Apple made matters worse by pretending it was not a security fault with the iCloud, when it clearly was.

The last thing you need a couple of weeks before you release a clutch of iCloud products is for people to question if it is safe sticking their data on Apple’s systems.

All up, we think that Apple will have a hard time convincing sane people that it has a special plan to pull itself away from mediocrity. The Tame Apple Press will try to convince you otherwise, but we suspect that cooler heads will be wondering how Apple could have sunk so low.

Microsoft responds to Getty legal

gavelA lawsuit issued by Getty Images against Microsoft last week has resulted in the software giant climbing down.

Getty Images alleged that Microsoft threatened its vast library of copyright images with a widget for its search engine called Bing Image.  That beta software allowed people to embed images into their own web site.

But Getty complained that gave access to its images and threatened its business. It said in its allegation against Microsoft that Bing trawled the website and found as many images as was possible, and copied and indexed every image it came across, ignoring the copyright status of the pictures and without asking permission from copyright owners.

Now Microsoft has taken down the widget saying on its website only that it had temporarily removed it. No doubt its legal advisors are talking to Getty’s legal advisors.

Cyber Threat Alliance signs majors

symantecTwo major security players – Intel McAfee and Symantec – have team up with other vendors and joined the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA).

The CTA was originally formed by Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks in May this year.  The aim of the alliance is to coordinate industry players to combat cyber hackers by collaborating on threats and sharing intelligence.

Information share will include info on zero day vulnerabilities, botnet command and control, mobile threats and shared malware samples.

The CTA has issued an open invitation to other organisations that share in its goals. It hopes that other major league security players will join them. It is offering membership not just to tech vendors, but to government agencies, non profit groups and corporations too.

Symantec VP Adam Bromwich said that because security breaches are bigger, cost more and happen more often, it’s teamed up to be a founding member of the CTA.

Vincent Weafer, a senior VP at Intel McAfee, said the industry need to cooperate and collaborate to prevent such threats.  “This cyber alliance provides a critical framework for educating each otheron the infrastructure and evolving tactics behind these attacks, he said.

HP beefs up security

HPAccessData and HP are to get closer to each other by increasing security assessment and quick fixes for global organisations.

HP’s service arm, Rapid Incident Respons Services is intended to help corporations quickly investigate what’s gone wrong after a hack and provide forensic evidence of incidents.

HP will now provide further services using AccessData’s Resolution One to give advance warning of security threats and provide alerts to prevent networks, endpoints, mobile devices and applications being compromised.

AccessData claims its ResolutionOne offering will extend HP’s own service with capabilities including root cause analysis, full packet capture network forensics, data on hardware, assessment of malware, and auditing across enterprises.  ResolutionOne also lets security and response teams collaborate in real time with automated batch processing to eradicate threats.

AccessData says it has over 130,000 users in law enforcement, at law firms, government agencies and corporations.

IBM, Intel gang up on cloud

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeIntel and IBM said they will work together to improve security for cloud computing.

IBM said “SoftLayer” will be the first cloud venture giving bare metal servers using Intel cloud technology that will give security and monitoring down to the microprocessor level. Intel TXT is built for larger enterprises including governmental agencies, financial services companies and healthcare organisations.

The premise is that as large corporations move to a cloud and data centre model, they want to be sure that the computers are as secure as those managed on their own sites.

SoftLayer is an IBM company that provides a global cloud platform built to scale.  100,000 devices are under management, while 18 data centres in Europe, Asia and the USA are in that web too.

IBM customers will buy SoftLayer servers that have a trusted platform module installed.  Intel TXT will let such customers build trusted computing pools of IT resources in the cloud.

SoftLayer belongs to the Intel Cloud Technology programme and uses Xeon E5-2600 V2, Xeon E3-1200 V3 and Xeon E5-4600 microprocessors.

Google panics over privacy rules

330ogleSearch giant Google has got itself in a flap because it is being forced to remove thousands of items that people don’t like on the web.

Reuters said Google will hold its first meeting in Madrid tomorrow in a bid to discuss the free flow of information.

This all follows a ruling in May that allows citizens  of the European Union the right to be anonymous on the web.

Apparently, by mid July, Google had received over 90,000 requests to remove information on its search engine. Google has refused a chunk of the requests but people have the right to appeal against the refusals.

Reuters quotes French watchdog Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin as saying that the seven debates to be held over Europe were part of a spin war.

This month, representatives of Microsoft, Yahoo and other companies operating search engines are being asked to cooperate to create guidelines for the removal of personal data, if requested.

Apple rumoured to unveil smartwatch

Apple's CEO Tim Cook - shot from WikimediaA number of fashion journalists has been invited to Apple’s big launch in San Francisco tomorrow and that’s led to speculation that it will, after all, show off a smartwatch.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that fashion editors and bloggers “in unprecedented numbers” have been invited to the jamboree.

Apple is currently suffering from a perception that it has not really shown off anything new since the introduction of its iPad some years back.  Its share price on Wall Street has suffered too.

But even if Apple’s CEO Tim Cook (pictured) does show off a smartwatch, Taiwanese suppliers reported just last week that several components were still in early testing stage and that it is unlikely that an Apple smartwatch will be available to buy until 2015.

Apple also joins a slew of other vendors hoping that smartwatches will really light up peoples’ lives.

The launch tomorrow, could be rather banal, with Apple just introducing another iPhone to its range.

Microsoft intros MSN beta

Microsoft campusSoftware giant Microsoft said it has introduced a beta version of its new MSN.

The company said it’s designed for a world where the cloud and mobile are the name of the game.  It has content from major worldwide media and comes with productivity tools.

The software is available on the web right now and will soon be available for Windows, Apple iOS and Android too.

Microsoft claims MSN’s existing audience is 425 million people.

Steve Lynas, the MS suit in charge of MSN, waxed lyrical about the thing. “Microsoft’s DNA is about empowerment,” he said weirdly.  “The new MSN brings together content from over 1,000 publishers with experiences that help people live fuller lives.  We’ve completely reimagined the experience to embrace this opportunity.”

Media mates include the Guardian, the Independent, Sky News and the Telegraph.  It has struck similar deals in other countries across the world.

It’s got reviews of over 1.5 million bottles of wine, and 300,000 recipes.

You can have a dekko at Microsoft’s latest rock star by clicking here.