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Home »  News  » Industry News Keep in touch with our latest industry news    Industry News  Google Offers Free Voice Calls Via Gmail - 27/08/2010 10:21:21 Google is taking on internet telephone companies like Skype by allowing users to call from its free web-based email service. The service allows users to make calls to land lines and mobiles from inside their Gmail account. Phoning anywhere in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to the UK, France, China and Germany will cost 2 cents a minute. Until now Google offered computer-to-computer voice and video chat services. The product will initially be rolled out in the US, the firm said. When it rolls out the product link will appear on the left hand of the Gmail page within the "chat" window. A "call phone" option will pop up along with a number pad to let you dial the number of the person you want to talk to. Google said money raised from international calls will pay for the free US and Canadian calls. Skype, which is the most successful internet phone offering, claims to have over 560 million registered users. The firm said 124 million used the service at least one a month while 8.1 million were paying customers. The company is planning to offer shares to the public later this year. Observers said that it is too early to say whether companies like Skype should be worried. The company plans an eye catching way to get non-Gmail users to give the product a go. It is in negotiations with a number of university campuses and airports to install red telephone boxes around the country to give users the chance to dial and try.  BT Broadband Advert Banned Over Speed Claim - 27/08/2010 10:12:01 An advert for telecommunications firm BT has been banned for misleading customers over broadband speeds. In a TV advert, a voice-over said BT is "rolling out up to 20 meg speeds" to give "consistently faster broadband". The Advertising Standards Authority, which received 17 complaints, said it had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim and concluded that the advert was likely to mislead. The advert - an instalment in an ongoing campaign about "Adam and Jane" - showed Adam being shown around a property by an estate agent as he talked to his partner, Jane, on his mobile. She was seen viewing the house online from her home computer, loading a website faster than the estate agent at peak time, before a voiceover said: "BT is rolling out up to 20 meg speeds to give you a consistently faster broadband throughout the day even at peak times." A similar message was carried in radio and press adverts. There were 17 complaints from the public and competitors Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin. Some felt the 20Mb (megabits per second) claim was misleading and could not be substantiated. Others believed surfing a typical website would not be any faster with a 20Mb service than it would with BT's original 8Mb service. And three people said the speed at which the "Jane" character navigated various web pages was faster than anyone could achieve at any connection speed. In reaching its decision, the ASA said: "Because we had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claim that BT's new broadband service was consistently faster than its existing 8Mb service even at peak times, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead."  Facebook Puts Places On The Map For Users - 27/08/2010 09:44:01 Facebook has unveiled a new feature that lets members share their whereabouts with friends while on the move. Facebook Places is the social networking site's first step into location-based services for people who own smartphones equipped with satellite position tracking capabilities. Members can "check-in" at restaurants, bars, or other social venues and let their friends at the social network instantly know where they are and with whom. The launch includes an application for iPhone handsets, and members with smartphones featuring web browser software supporting geo-location and HTML5 can use it at the mobile website touch.facebook.com. The feature is initially only available in the US and while the company will eventually roll it out worldwide to its 500 million users, a spokesman for Facebook UK said its release here was some months away. The commercial potential with Places is with users being able to declare wherever they are whenever they want, opening themselves up to offers, suggestions or advertisements about nearby businesses. Facebook said it had no immediate plans to pursue this, but the advertising market driven by small businesses such as restaurants and stores is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars a year in the United States alone and has attracted online companies like Google and Yelp. The feature has been introduced as improved GPS technology in handheld phones has seen location-based social networking services like Gowalla and Foursquare become increasingly popular. Their members let friends see where they are and automatically update Facebook profiles with the information.  Intel Buys IT Security Firm MacAfee - 27/08/2010 09:37:18 IT security technology firm McAfee has been taken over by the world's largest chipmaker Intel in a deal reportedly worth around £5 billion. It's thought that Intel hopes to use McAfee's security expertise to build security features directly into its chips, which are widely used in consumer devices from PCs to smartphones. Intel President and Chief Executive Paul Otelline said that the move was in response to the increasing importance of security alongside other requirements such as energy-efficiency and connectivity. McAfee is one of the largest IT security companies in the world with more than 6000 employees, both companies are based at Santa Clara, California but have a strong presence in the UK.  India Sets Blackberry Monitoring Deadline - 17/08/2010 13:32:02 India has sent formal notices to the country's mobile operators telling them they must have equipment to monitor Blackberry services by 31 August. The move will increase pressure on Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) to allow Indian security agencies access to encrypted messages. The government has said it will shut down Blackberry services if the firm does not meet its demands to give access to its encrypted messenger and e-mail services by 31 August. In statement released on 12 August, the government said that other Blackberry services, including voice and SMS traffic, were already "available to law enforcement agencies". India, along with many other countries, believes the device and the Blackberry infrastructure are a threat to national security. Blackberry handsets automatically scramble messages and send them to servers in Canada and other countries. Authorities have said they want access to these messages and the keys to decrypt them to counter terrorism and criminal activity. The row in India is the latest in a long-running dispute between RIM and international governments. The United Arab Emirates was the first country to propose a block on the devices, followed by a raft of others including Lebanon, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. A ban that was supposed to come into force on 6 August in Saudi Arabia has been postponed whilst the government holds talks with RIM.  Facebook 'Dislike' Scam Warning - 17/08/2010 13:11:46 Facebook users are being targeted in a scam that offers them a chance to install a "dislike" button. The scam tricks users into allowing a rogue application to access their profile page, which then posts spam messages. It also attempts to lure people into completing an online survey, for which the scammers are paid money. The social network already offers a "like" button that allows people to rate other user's comments and posts. The dislike button scam prompts people to download an application with the message: "Download the official DISLIKE button now." When users click on the link it prompts them to install a rogue application, which does not function as a dislike button. Once a user has given it permission to access their profile, it updates the user's page with a link and a message: "I just got the dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!!" The surveys appear to be from genuine companies that may not be policing their affiliates properly. The scam finally points users towards a Firefox add-on that installs a "dislike" button.  Britons at Risk of Identity Fraud Through Careless Use of Passwords on Internet - 17/08/2010 13:02:31 More than half of Britons admit making their online passwords easily available on the internet and never change their details unless prompted to do so, research indicates. Experian, the credit reference agency, warns that millions of people leave themselves open to identity fraud by being too relaxed about the information they publish on online dating profiles and social networking sites. Three of the most regularly used passwords – town of birth, date of birth and name of past schools – also feature in the top 10 personal details which people publish on their online profiles, the poll found. The survey of more than 2,000 adults online found 18 per cent would publish their town of birth on internet profiles, but only 3 per cent would give this same information to a stranger over the phone. Almost one in four people (24 per cent) would publish the names of their past schools online, while just 1 per cent of people would provide this information over the phone. Twenty-seven per cent would publish their date of birth online, with 23 per cent of those surveyed willing to tell it to someone over the phone. More than half of those surveyed said they used the same password for some or most of their online accounts and 57 per cent admitted using data easily available on social networking and dating sites as their password. The poll also showed half of Britons (52 per cent) never change their passwords unless they believe their account may have been compromised or have been prompted to do so. Pete Turner, of Experian which runs ProtectMyID to help prevent identity fraud, said: "The message of ID fraud is still not being heard. The internet is accessible to almost everyone and as the number of users grow, so do those using it for criminal purposes. "Users need to be aware of what information they are giving out online and who might be accessing it. People are clearly aware of giving away personal details to strangers calling them up on the phone, so why are they presenting it to a wider audience online?"  Report Shows Increase in Mobile Device Usage - 17/08/2010 12:28:26 Sales of mobile device increased by almost 14 per cent in the last year, according to new research. Recently-released figures from industry analyst Gartner revealed that worldwide sales of mobile devices reached 325.6 million units in the second quarter of the year. This represents an increase of 13.8 per cent on the same period in 2009, the report showed. However, despite the rising number of sales, a reduction in prices means overall margins dipped. According to the research, smartphones accounted for 19 per cent of all mobile device sales, an increase of 50.5 per cent when compared to the second quarter of last year.  Exclaimer Mail Utilities Receives Certified Status - 11/08/2010 15:31:08 Exclaimer Mail Disclaimers, the market leading server-based email disclaimer and brand management solution provided by Air-IT, has achieved the highly acclaimed Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 status from Microsoft after undergoing extensive testing. The Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 status highlights that Exclaimer Mail Disclaimers is a stable, reliable and secure product that meets Microsoft's high standards for compatibility with the Windows Server 2008 R2 platform. This accolade places Exclaimer Mail Disclaimers, at the very top of its class, having become the only email disclaimer software solution to have achieved this status. Exclaimer's reputation for compatibility with Microsoft applications – having also recently achieved the Works with Windows status for Exclaimer Mail Disclaimers Signature Manager – shows a continuing commitment to developing products which enhance and add benefit to Microsoft solutions.  Saudi Arabia Halts Plan to Ban BlackBerry Instant Messanging - 09/08/2010 13:03:52 Saudi Arabia and the makers of the BlackBerry smartphone have reached a deal to prevent a ban on the phone's messenger service. The agreement, which involves placing a BlackBerry server inside Saudi Arabia, would allow the government to monitor users' messages and allay official fears the service could be used for criminal purposes. The deal could have wide-ranging implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns over how BlackBerry maker Research in Motion handles its data. A Saudi regulatory official said tests were now under way to determine how to install a BlackBerry server inside the country. The kingdom is one of a number of countries expressing concern that the device is a security threat because encrypted information sent on the phones is routed through overseas computers – making it impossible for local governments to monitor. The United Arab Emirates has announced it will ban BlackBerry email, messaging and web browsing starting in October, and Indonesia and India are also demanding greater control over the data. Analysts say RIM's expansion into fast-growing emerging markets is threatening to set off a wave of regulatory challenges, as its commitment to keep corporate emails secure rubs up against the desires of local law enforcement. RIM says it does offer help to governments, but says its technology does not allow it, or any third party, to read encrypted emails sent by corporate BlackBerry users. The consumer version has a lower level of security. In Saudi Arabia – which local media say has some 750,000 BlackBerry users – the threat of the ban raised accusations the government is trying to further curb freedom of expression. BlackBerry phones are known to be popular both among businesspeople and youth in the kingdom who see the phones' relatively secure communication features as a way to avoid attention from the authorities.  Google Waves Goodbye To Messaging App - 09/08/2010 13:03:49 Google has abandoned work on Wave, its ambitious real-time messaging and collaboration application, after admitting it had not become a hit with the public. In a rare climbdown for the web search firm, Google said the product "has not seen the user adoption we would have liked". Google Wave is an application which allows Twitter-style instant updates and collaboration on documents. Anyone invited to a "wave" can edit it, and they can be private, restricted to a small number of people or visible to anyone. In a blog post , senior vice president for operations Urs Holzle said developers "stood and cheered" when Google first unveiled the concept last year. "We were equally jazzed about Google Wave internally, even though we weren’t quite sure how users would respond to this radically different kind of communication," Mr Holzle said. Despite "numerous loyal fans", the project had not been as successful as they had hoped and work on it will stop, he said.  Will New BlackBerry Torch Outshine IPhone? - 09/08/2010 12:54:30 Research In Motion has unveiled a new BlackBerry smartphone to compete with Apple's iPhone. The BlackBerry Torch will go on sale on August 12 in the US for $199.99 (£125.52) with a two-year service agreement. The device, unveiled in New York, has a touch screen and slide-out keyboard and a new operating system called BlackBerry 6, with a new browser. Analysts said Research In Motion (RIM) needs a big overhaul of its phones to attract more buyers and compete with the iPhone and devices that use Google's Android operating system. The BlackBerry is popular among business people but, with more of them buying iPhones, critics say RIM must improve. The new device gives users the choice of typing out messages on the touch screen or the slide-out keyboard. It also comes with a 5 megapixel camera with a flash. RIM's BlackBerry has long been the gold standard for corporate and government customers due to its speedy, secure email service. But critics say RIM has been too slow to offer features that appeal to the much bigger consumer market.  Web Browsers to be on 60% of Mobile Phones by 2015, report shows - 09/08/2010 12:43:36 Almost four billion mobile handsets will operate web browsers within the next five years, it has been claimed. Data from a report by ABI Research has estimated that 3.8 billion handsets will contain mobile browsers by 2015, accounting for slightly more than 60 per cent of the world's mobile devices. According to the research, the figures mean the number of mobile web browsers in use is set to double over the five-year period. Mark Beccue a senior analyst at ABI Research explained that mobile browser can be separated into two categories; 'highly sophisticated' and 'proxy-based'. The expert said that highly-sophisticated browsers are those typically seen on smartphones, which operate on around 64Mb of memory, However, he added that a 'new family' of proxy-based browsers is emerging. "These browsers move some caching and processing off the phone to a nearby server, allowing the browser to run on lower-cost processors and requiring as little as 4Mb of memory," he said. "That means these browsers can be used on even the lowest-cost phones."  Microsoft Issues 'Critical' Patch for Shortcut Bug - 03/08/2010 10:44:15 Microsoft has issued a "critical" security update to fix a flaw in the way Windows handles shortcuts. The bug allowed attackers to craft booby-trapped shortcuts that allow them to take over a target computer. Many users set up shortcuts to get to programs and places in Windows that they use regularly. Microsoft said it released the patch because it had seen an increase in the number of attacks on the vulnerability. The fix will be sent out to those that automatically update their machines. It will also be available via the Windows Update site. The flaw was found in mid-July and allows malicious hackers to embed commands in shortcuts that are executed when that quick link is used or viewed. Every version of Windows is vulnerable to the flaw. The first exploits of the flaw were seeded via infected USB drives and network connections. While exploitation of the flaw was limited initially, the tempo of attacks via the bug has escalated since it was discovered and publicised. Early attacks using the bug were aimed at the software control systems for critical infrastructure such as power stations. Microsoft signalled the severity of the problem by releasing an update outside its usual patch cycle. Security fixes are usually issued on the second Tuesday of every month.  Two Gulf States to Ban Some Blackberry Functions - 03/08/2010 10:34:29 Two Gulf states have announced bans on some functions of the Blackberry mobile phone, claiming security concerns. The United Arab Emirates is to block sending e-mails, accessing the internet, and delivering instant messages to other Blackberry handsets. Saudi Arabia is to prevent the use of the Blackberry-to-Blackberry instant messaging service. Both nations are unhappy that they are unable to monitor such communications via the handsets. This is because the Blackberry handsets automatically send the encrypted data to computer servers outside the two countries. The UAE's telecoms regulator, TRA, said the lack of compliance with local laws raised "judicial, social and national security concerns". The UAE ban is to start in October, while the Saudi move will begin later this month. There are an estimated 500,000 Blackberry users in the UAE, and 400,000 in Saudi Arabia. India has also raised security concerns over Blackberry data services, saying they could be exploited by militants.  Internet Explorer Fights Back Against Firefox - 03/08/2010 10:17:58 Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has defied its critics and rivals, gaining global market share for the third month running, according to new figures. Net Applications’ latest statistics show that the world’s most popular browser accounted for a 60.7 per cent share of the global browser market during July, up on the previous month by 0.4 per cent. The increase was largely at the expense of Mozilla Firefox, which saw its market share drop by 0.9 per cent on the month to 22.9 per cent. Google’s Chrome browser also lost 0.08 per cent of its previous month’s share, leaving it with 7.2 per cent. While Apple’s Safari browser gained 0.2 per cent – putting it up to 5.1 per cent and Opera also grew by 0.2 per cent putting it at 2.45 per cent. The continued rise of Internet Explorer is a reversal in the browser’s fortunes, which has continually lost share to the likes of Firefox over the last few years. Firefox’s market share peaked in April 2010, with 24.59 per cent and has been declining ever since. According to Net Application’s statistics, it is the second month in a row of global gains for Internet Explorer and the third straight month of increasing share in the US. In February 2010, Internet Explorer 8 finally overtook Internet Explorer 6 as the most popular browser in the world, after security flaws were publicly exposed in the older version. Interestingly IE8 only took 10 months to become the global browser leader. However, its boost earlier this year, can probably be attributed to many people moving away from IE6, after Microsoft admitted that Internet Explorer was the weak link in the hacker attacks on Google's systems in China.  New Version of Safari Includes 'Apps' - 03/08/2010 09:46:24 Apple has released a new version of its Safari browser, which allows users to customise their online experiences through 'extensions'. Safari 5.0.1 allows users to pick widgets from the Safari Extension Gallery, which can do things like build headline feeds into your browser, filter content and more. Unlike many of the mobile widgets from the App Store, everything in the Safari Extension Gallery is free. While other browsers, such as Firefox, have allowed this kind of customisation for years, the question now is: will Apple's magic touch change the way we experience the internet?  Tablet War Hots Up With Microsoft iPad Rival - 26/07/2010 10:49:25 Microsoft is taking on the iPad in the battle of the tablets as it announced plans to launch it own version later this year. It is working in partnership with Hewlett-Packard whose executive vice president Todd Bradley said: "Slates are going to be an enormous category. "Our focus is working with still our largest software partner, Microsoft, to create a tablet, a slate, for the enterprise business." Apple has sold more than three million iPads since it went on sale in April and Microsoft has been seeking to develop products that will tap into the lucrative market. When the Microsoft tablet arrives on the shelves it may benefit from one key advantage over its Apple rival. The HP tablet computer will be able to run Flash, the popular video software from Adobe which Apple has barred from the iPad. The news comes as Microsoft revealed a record $4.52bn profit with a fourth quarter revenue of more than $16bn dollars. Microsoft credited the strong sales figures to the successful launch of its latest-generation Office 2010 software and to continued strong demand for its new Windows 7 operating system. The popularity of its Xbox 360 videogame consoles and Bing's improving share of the Internet search market also contributed to the successful final quarter of its fiscal year. Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner said: "We look forward to continuing our product momentum this autumn with the upcoming launches of Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect."  Cybercrime: One in 10 Computers Vulnerable to Attack - 26/07/2010 10:43:00 A new report reveals that cybercriminals are attacking millions of computers every month – and infecting approximately 10 per cent. Cybercriminals are increasingly focussing on money, a new report suggests, and improved organisation means that “toolkits” have been developed to methodically infect PCs so that illegally obtained information can be bought and sold. In a survey by security firm AVG, 165 internet domains were found to have attacked 12 million visitors over the course of two months. More than 1.2 million computers were subsequently infected. The research looked at criminals using the so called “Eleonore toolkit”, which aims to use malware contained on specially created websites to steal information such as credit card details, emails and national insurance numbers. The software targets known vulnerabilites, primarily in older versions of Microsoft’s web browser. Internet Explorer 6 alone accounted for one-third of all infections. Apple Browser Safari proved the most resistant to Eleonore attacks, allowing just 2.78 per cent of machines using it to be infected. Adobe Acrobat and Sun Javascript also accounted for a significant number of infections. Criminal servers were typically hosted in the Ukraine, where more than a quarter were found, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. Hackers appeared to target the Russian Federation, too: 8,906,025 attacks were recorded, and 916,430 (10.3%) were successful. The United States and Britain attracted approximately half a million attacks each, which met with a similar level of success.  Facebook's 500m Users Include One in Three Britons - 26/07/2010 10:36:48 More than 25 million Britons, or one in three of the entire population, is now a member of Facebook. The social networking site has announced it has reached 500 million members worldwide after gaining 100m users in the last five months. The global figure means eight per cent of the world’s population is now on the site. After the US, Britain has the second-largest membership of Facebook in the world, according to InsideFacebook, followed by Indonesia and Turkey. Although the 18-25 age group is Britain’s largest, well over half of British users of the site are over 25 and 38.2 per cent are over 35. Along with the United States, Britain also has a thriving number of older users with 7.36 per cent being over 55 – almost double the proportion in France and 12 times the level in Indonesia. British users are also fairly evenly split according to gender, with women outnumbering men by just 2.2 per cent overall. In the EU, France is the second-biggest with 17m users in April, Italy third at 15.2m and Spain fourth at 9.4m. The number of Britons on the site continues to grow but the rate of growth in the UK and the United States has slowed from a peak in 2008.  Report Highlights UK Better than US for Broadband - 26/07/2010 10:28:37 Broadband services in the UK are better than those offered to customers in the US, according to a new report. However, neither country can boast about their broadband services after being ranked 22nd and 23rd respectively by the new study. Market research firm Strategy Analytics recently launched its new report series, which rates 57 countries according to household penetration, speed, affordability, value for money and urbanicity. The report found that South Korea offers the world's best broadband services, followed by Hong Kong, Holland, Lithuania and Japan. The UK was put in the shade by a number of other European neighbours with France (12th) and Germany (15th) both gaining higher marks.  E-books Outselling Hardbacks on Amazon - 26/07/2010 10:22:19 E-books are outselling hardback books for the first time ever according to an announcement by online bookseller Amazon.com. The US based company has reported that in the second quarter of 2010 it sold 143 e-books for every hardback sold, with three times as many sold in the first half of this year compared to last. Amazon explained the rise in sales is due to the success of the Kindle e-reader, which although available in the UK, has not yet enjoyed the same level of success as it has in the US. Amazon say that there are now more than 630,000 e-books ready to be downloaded, with nearly two million out of copyright works available for free.  New domain .co Launched - Could UK Businesses Benefit? - 26/07/2010 10:18:17 A new top-level domain name has been launched that could potentially offer new opportunities to businesses in the UK. The ".co" domain originally began as Colombia's official domain, but has now been additionally offered to the open market. The move has already seen domain prospectors falling over themselves to register the best sites. It is thought that the popularity of the domain is down to its similarity to ".com" and the fact that it sounds business-like. However some experts have claimed that early adopting UK businesses could struggle to rank on a country specific search engine such as Google UK with a country neutral domain name  E-Crime Unit Shutdown IT Support Scam - 26/07/2010 10:11:39 The Metropolitan police e-crime unit has successfully shut down a number of websites that were targeting UK businesses with fraudulent IT support. Teams at Indian call centres were cold-calling UK businesses and then charging them for unnecessary IT support. Users were often charged up to £185 and only told of the cost after the fraudsters had taken control of their PC remotely. The unit shut down nineteen websites, many of which were operating from the Kolkata region, however it's thought that replacements may already be up and running a similar scam.  Burglars using Twitter and Facebook to Find Potential Victims - 26/07/2010 10:09:20 Burglars are increasingly using Twitter and Facebook to find out if potential victims have left their homes empty. Social networking sites provide a "potential gold mine" of information for criminals, with many users unwittingly publishing their addresses, and full details of where they are and their holiday plans. A survey of 50 former criminals, undertaken by the insurance company More Than, found that many burglars undertook a considerable amount of research before attempting to steal from people's houses – research that is easier to come by in the age of online social networks. The survey found that 68 per cent said they collected information about their target's home and daily routine in advance of committing a crime. And 12 per cent of the former criminals said they had used social networking sites to do their research – a figure likely to be far higher with the modern generation of internet savvy criminals.  Apple Eats Humble Pie: 'We're Not Perfect' - 19/07/2010 10:03:44 Apple boss Steve Jobs has admitted the company has problems with its iPhone 4 reception and has offered customers a free case to fix the problem. Speaking at a news conference in the US, Jobs said: "We are not perfect. We know that you know that, and phones are not perfect either. "But we want to make all of our users happy." He said Apple will give free protective "bumper" cases to iPhone users, which should sort out the so-called "death grip" problem - a problem in which the user's hand can muffle or block the signal when the phone is held up. Mr Jobs announced the giveaway at the company's headquarters in California and said those who have already bought the phone and new buyers will all be eligible. He went on to say that those still unhappy with the service will be eligible for a full refund. The manufacturer had at first claimed the problem was simply a fault with the signal strength indicator - but in fact the aerial built into the phone's casing has since been blamed. Jobs said that just 0.5 per cent of all iPhone 4 users – around 15,000 people – had contacted Apple to complain about antenna problems. He also said that fewer people had returned iPhone 4 handsets than returned the iPhone 3GS, the handset Apple launched in 2009. He also said that many phones, including BlackBerrys, suffered a loss of signal when held in a similar way. The furore over the signal-strength flaws of the latest iPhone model has hurt Apple's shares ahead of its quarterly results next week. Since June 28 - days after the launch, when complaints about faulty reception began surfacing on IT websites - Apple has lost about $16bn (£10.44bn) in market value, with at least some of that related to the iPhone controversy.  'App' To Revolutionise Mobile Messages - 19/07/2010 09:55:16 A new text and email programme for smartphones could make typing on touchscreen mobiles 50% faster. Mobile technology firm TouchType, has introduced SwiftKey, a text prediction "app" for smartphones claiming it can revolutionise the way we communicate. The innovation works by using language technology that predicts whole words as a person types on the phone. Jon Reynolds, chief executive of TouchType said: "The incredible technology underpinning our application completely changes the way mobile users interact with their smartphones." The key elements which set it apart from old prediction technology, which relies on word lists, are SwiftKey's language models that understand how words are combined within sentences. This new advanced technology adjusts itself by learning the individual writing style and is available in languages such as US/UK English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Swedish.  Business Privacy and Security Cases - 19/07/2010 09:45:01 Business is booming at the UK's data protection watchdog as the number of privacy and security cases continues to grow. According to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) annual report there was a 30 per cent jump in data protection cases over the last year. The organisation received 33,234 requests for advice or complaints and managed to close 32,714 of them, dealing with three-quarters of cases in under 90 days. The ICO now has the power to fine businesses up to half a million pounds if they breach the Data Protection Act, but so far the organisation has never issued such a penalty.  Delay in Broadband Rollout - 19/07/2010 09:41:12 The Government has announced a delay in the rollout of the universal two megabit broadband service by at least three years after detailed examinations of the cost have led to a re-evaluation. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is responsible for implementing the plan, said that he did not now think there was enough funding left to meet the previously expected 2012 deadline. Despite the delay the Culture Secretary says he intends to stick by his pledge to give the UK the best broadband network in Europe by the end of this parliament in 2015. According to research firm Point Topic two million homes in the UK are currently unable to get a two megabit connection.  Microsoft to Launch ‘iPad killers’ - 13/07/2010 12:05:13 Microsoft is set to release a series of Windows-based, tablet-style computers this year as it seeks to see off the challenge posed by Apple’s iPad. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s Chief Executive, told delegates at the company’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference that they would find the range of devices “quite impressive”. "This year one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates and Windows 7 phones," he said. "Over the course of the next few months you will see a range of Windows 7-based slates that I think you'll find quite impressive." They will all run Windows 7 operating system, Windows 7 applications and Office 2010, he confirmed. Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony are among the consumer electronics companies that will be making Windows-based slates, he confirmed.