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EXCLUSIVE: ADSL Access Now Drops Under £20 Today sees the introduction of new pricing for ADSL products following BT?s wholesale cuts in February. Concentrating on the home-user and the small business market, Filar Loop Technologies Ltd claim that it has the financial backing required to offer its self-install USB product for a remarkable £19.99 per month. Currently Freedom2Surf offer a similar product for £22.50 and PIPEX offers their Xtreme Solo product for £23.44 but until now no Internet provider has been able to break the £20 barrier. Due to the cost and the expected demand, Filar Loop can only guarantee the low price for customers that sign up before the end of the month. Although customers can still benefit from the low prices if they sign-up to a 12 month contract. There is an activation fee of £58.75. Marketing manager, Brian Speers, commented, ?A number of years ago there was no such thing as a free Internet connection; the market was purely subscription-based. Now we have over 100 narrowband unmetered ISP services. I believe that this year will prove to be a very interesting one for broadband services in the UK.? He continued, ?Whilst BT announced price cuts to its wholesale ADSL products, which will no doubt attract many Internet users away from the standard dial-up connection, we do not consider their actions to be enough to generate enough interest in the broadband market.? ?Filar Loop will do for the ADSL market what the likes of Freeserve did to the free 0845 market. 2002 is going to be the year of ADSL and we are going to be the leader with the introduction of our £19.99 wires-only product.? Speers concluded. Sam's Spade Digs Out The Spammers However, help is at hand with this neat combination of tools in Sam Spade - a unique network-query tool that can help you locate bulk mailers and decrease the instances of SPAM. Sam Spade has many features and server-finding tools, such as *ping, *nslookup *whois *IP block whois *dig *traceroute *finger *SMTP VRFY *web browser *keep-alive *DNS zone transfer *SMTP relay check *Usenet cancel check *website download *website search *email header analysis *Email blacklist query *Abuse address query *S-Lang scripting Time. The great thing is that Sam Spade is very user friendly by supporting use of its tools through a graphical interface within windows. Each tool within the program displays it's output in it's own window, and everything is multithreaded so you don't need to wait for one query to complete before starting the next one. Its SMTP Verify tool helps you check on the validity of an email address, which is good for finding out if mail is being sent from that address or forwarded from another address to cover the spammer's tracks. Some functions are threaded still further to allow lazy reverse DNS lookups (never do a traceroute -n again) and the output from each query is hotlinked, so you can right click on an email address, IP address, hostname or internic tag to run another query on it. An abuse.net query will identify the email addresses listed at a database maintained by abuse.net. There's a lot of online help, in both WinHelp and HTMLHelp formats, with the inclusion of tutorials, background information and links to online resources as well as the program manual itself. Most of the tools Sam Spade provides are nearly identical to their unix equivalents, so any tutorials covering the unix tools will be applicable to Sam Spade also. Sam Spade is completely freeware, and to find out more information, or download the program please click HERE ****Please Note: Sam Spade can be a powerful tool, and there are guidelines and implications to be aware of when using the program, so please read the TIPS section on the site for more information**** Now for a little extra treat for Easter! Chicken Invaders is a modern rendition of the 80's classic Space Invaders, yet is more pleasant to play for young and old alike! When you shoot a chicken, it turns into a chicken-leg which you can catch, although watch out for the eggs which can kill you! This is the latest (DX) edition, and is available HERE for download. Suitable for Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP, the game requires a minimum of DirectX v7.0 to run. Don't forget to check out the other small freeware games on the site while you are downloading Chicken Invaders, and remember, have fun! New Site Hopes To Help Stamp Out Child Cruelty The new site, "There4me.com," has been launched to help stamp down on child cruelty, and is aimed at children aged between 12 and 16. It is the first UK website to offer one-to-one real-time counselling, and the head of there4me.com, Pat Marsland, added: "The pilot is showing us that this is a service that children value because they can talk about things that are worrying them while remaining anonymous if they wish to do so." "In this way we can reach out to children who might otherwise not seek help and offer them advice on safety and protection." It is hoped that the site's counselling service will offer young people a different means of communication, and confidentiality is assured through the use of a private inbox for sending and receiving messages. Children can also remain anonymous if they wish to talk in private to one of the (initial) fifteen trained counsellors available, and the service will operate from 10am to 9pm on weekdays. Information, advice and games are also available on the site, which can be accessed by clicking HERE Source: BBC Unmetered ISP Launches 128K Net Access The ISP caused a storm when it announced its Gio Universal 24/7 product which offers unmetered access anytime time of the day, 7 days a week, for just £7.99. Now Gio Internet has revealed Gio Universal Plus 24/7 which offers ISDN users a full 128K connection for just £19.95 per month. The news follows yesterday's announcement from Vispa who also revealed a 128K product for £29.95 per month. Gio Internet's dual channel ISDN access is believed to be the cheapest unmetered service currently available. Earlier this month the MD, Haris Isaac, told us that they plan to offer their products to non-BT customers in May. "Silver Surfers" Continue To Join The Internet Revolution More than two million people in this age group now regularly access the Internet, accounting for 13 per cent of the total home UK online population. The UK has one of the highest percentages of "silver surfers" in Europe, surpassed only by Sweden with 17.4 per cent and Denmark with 16.3 per cent, while this age group accounts for only 3.5 per cent of Spain's home Internet population. Online banking is very popular with "silver surfers", with more than 40 per cent banking online. Nearly 25 per cent of all people visiting banking sites are aged 50 or older. One notable area of interest for people aged 55 and over is tracing their family history and family tree. This age group is four times more likely to visit ancestry and genealogy sites than the average Internet user and represents nearly 60 per cent of visitors to these sites. Oftel States BT's ADSL Cuts Are Not Anti-Competitive Oftel's findings mean that service providers can now confirm their own price reductions for broadband Internet access using BT's wholesale service. Announcing closure of the investigation into the pricing of BT's IPStream and DataStream wholesale DSL products, Oftel's David Edmonds said, "Oftel has found that BT's price reductions reflect the significant cut in network and provision costs that BT has managed to achieve in order to bring wholesale broadband Internet prices down." He added, "Oftel estimates that there are now over 155,000 ADSL connections and over 195,000 cable modem connections for broadband services in the UK. I am confident that the UK's dynamic broadband market will result in a significant increase in broadband take up in 2002." Oftel has also closed its investigation into allegations that BT was operating a margin squeeze. Oftel looked at whether the margin between the wholesale price of IPStream 500 and the retail price charged by BTOpenworld for its At Home product was insufficient to allow other service providers to compete effectively with BTOpenworld. Oftel has considered the impact of the latest reduction in the wholesale price of IPStream 500 as part of its investigation into these allegations and has concluded that there is no evidence to suggest a margin squeeze is currently in operation. AOL Erase Balance-Sheet Billions On Takeovers European companies such as Vivendi Universal SA and Asian ones such as NTT DoCoMo Inc. are writing down more than $75 billion of takeover value in the first quarter. More will come in the U.S. as the likes of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. gear up for new accounting rules that will impel writedowns. Slowing economic growth forced such CEOs as Vivendi's Jean- Marie Messier and AOL's Gerald Levin to rethink the earnings potential of $5 trillion worth of purchases made during the takeover frenzy of 1999 and 2000. Now they must own up to overpaying by deflating their balance sheets of goodwill -- the difference between purchase price and book value. NTL £11.1 Billion Losses The telecom operator's revenue for the year was £2.57 billion, compared to £1.886 billion for 2000. The firm is struggling under the burden of an estimated debt of £12 billion. NTL made exceptional 2001 charges, principally in Q4, of approximately £8. billion for the impairment of goodwill, the write-down of certain assets and cost rationalisation. The firm shed 6,500 jobs - a third of its workforce - in the last year. NTL now employs 13,600. On the bright side, the company's underlying revenues increased by £488 million, and it claimed the largest slice of the UK broadband market with more than 180,000 customers. The debt comes on the back of a £12.5 billion acquisition trail from NTL over the last two years which saw it acquire 11 rival operators. It has also made sponsorship deals with a number of British Football clubs including Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Celtic and Rangers. Tiscali Reports Higher Losses Add on some other exceptional items and operating losses of EUR –307.6m, and the European ISP giant comes in with a net loss of EUR 1.664bn for 2001 (200: -EUR 181.4m). Revenues for the year were EUR 635.7m, 267% higher than 2000 (EUR 173.1m). The company attributes growth to increased traffic and user numbers, achieved organically and through acquisition. SOURCE: The Register New Vispa Package This package is built using FRIACO and operated via the Energis network and not BTnet. Transit connectivity is provided by NTL via 2 x 34Mbps primary circuits and 1 x 34Mbps backup circuit into the heart of LINX. Connect Anytime Plus is being operated with a contention of 10:1 along with 2 hour cut offs to control network levels and service. Users are also provided with unlimited email addresses, 15Mb free personal webspace, (which can host unlimited domain names if required), pre-installed CGI Scripts, Vispa Web Site checker, active community services, 14 channels of content, a webmail system and usenet access and a host of other features and options such as a Tucows mirror. 3 Companies Apply For 3G Licences Third generation mobile telecoms allows for rapid transfer of data over the mobile phone, including access to e-mail and games and the ability to download video clips. Mobile companies have pumped billions of euros into 3G licences - many saddling themselves with huge debts - and are expected to spend many more building networks. The modest amount of interest shown in Ireland's licences will not surprise many in an industry that has been battered by falling valuations, huge debts (incurred to buy other European 3G licences) and delays in the rollout of 3G services. The applicants were Hutchison 3G, owned by Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, mmO2, the mobile spin-off from Britain's BT Group, and British group Vodafone's Irish unit. The 20-year licences have differing terms, with the sole 'A' licence on offer providing for 80 percent population coverage and potential extra spectrum, and the three 'B' licences giving 53 percent coverage and slower minimum roll-out conditions. The Irish republic has a population of around 3.8 million. MmO2 and Vodafone applied for both types of licence, while Hutchison applied only for the 'A'. The licences will be awarded on a "beauty contest" basis rather than through an auction. A spokeswoman for the regulator noted that there were only two bids for the 'B' licence. "We are pleased to see strong competition for the 'A' licence, which we will evaluate first," she told Reuters. The 'A' licence will cost ?50.7 million (£31 million), and the 'B' licences ?114.3 million. There will be an upfront payment of ?12.7 million for the 'A' licence and 44.4 million for the 'B', followed by a moratorium of three to five years to take account of network building and market development, with deferred payments over the fourth to 15th year of the licence period. When the competition was launched in December, Ireland's biggest mobile operator Vodafone said it considered the cost of the licences "high", an opinion also voiced by mmO2. Meteor, the newest entrant to the Irish mobile phone market, declared the price "too high" and did not apply. Source: Reuters AOL Users Could Miss Out In Browser Switch AOL recently disclosed that it is testing a replacement to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, which it has bundled with countless "free AOL" CD-ROMs for years. Considering that the AOL online service has nearly 35 million users, a switch to technology from its own Netscape division would not only upset the current balance of power in the browser market, it could send tremors through the ranks of Web site developers. For all practical purposes, the Web has become a one-browser world over the past few years. Web authors mostly write and test their sites to work with one browser: Internet Explorer. If the sites work with Netscape, Opera or other small-time browsers, that's a bonus, but not one to keep most Web authors late at the office tweaking their code. If Netscape becomes the default browser for AOL's client software, developer perceptions of the one-browser world would rapidly dissipate. "If you're developing, you develop for IE," said David Averill-Pence, a San Diego-based Web developer whose sites include an unofficial site for New Line Cinema's "The Lord Of The Rings" movie. "Nobody I know spends a lot of time worrying about whether a site will work with Netscape." As the world's largest Internet service provider, AOL controls about 5 percent of the browser market - not enough to dislodge IE, which is used by more than 80 percent of all Web surfers. Still, a switch in the service's default browser could provide a big push for Web standards that might help level the playing field for IE rivals, according to Web developers and standards advocates. Source: ZDNet 2,200 Staff To Be Axed From BT's Call Centres The move will also see 53 call centres closed - over half its existing quota. They will be replaced by 30 state-of-the-art "customer contact centres". BT said two-thirds of current call centre staff will relocate to the new buildings, and no compulsory redundancies will be required. BT said the move followed an extensive review and consultation with unions. The changes will be made over the next two years. When complete, the cuts will take the number employed in BT call centres down to 13,600. BT said the restructuring is designed to make the telco the UK's "customer service champion". BT shares fell 1.5 per cent to 280.75p on the news. Source: Silicon.com Napster Delays Relaunch A statement on the Napster website said the company is "taking some more time to make sure we get the very best deals we can" from major music labels before it reopens for business. The company has not set another re-launch date but its chief executive, Konrad Hilbers, told FT Deutschland on Wednesday it will not re-open a copyright-friendly Napster service for another nine months. Napster could not immediately be reached for comment. Napster had hoped to restart the business, which has been idle since last summer, this spring. The company needs to secure licensing deals from the major record labels, including Warner Music, Universal Music, Sony Music, EMI and Bertelsmann's BMG, before relaunching. Those negotiations have gone slowly while a lawsuit between the majors and Napster drags on in the U.S. courts. On Monday, a federal appeals court ruled that Napster would have to remain idle until it can fully comply with an injunction to remove all copyright music from its service. Source: Reuters Easter Eggs For All ! The ?Easter Eggs? I am talking about are the little extras that various creators like to hide in software, music, artwork, books, and, believe it or not, even your watch! There are literally thousands of Easter Eggs to be found in all the above, but where do you start? Well, you could be really clever and spend hours trying to decipher were they could be yourself, OR you could be cunning and search through a nice list of the many thousands of Easter Eggs available and how to find them, but that would be cheating, wouldn't it? Well, maybe cheating is not a bad idea for finding those Eggs, so for those who like an easy life, this weeks recommendation, although not directly a download, could be just what the Easter Bunny ordered :) THE EASTER EGG ARCHIVE is the place to be for all those secret extras. With a massive 5,462 Easter Eggs collected so far, and no less than 34 new additions in the last two weeks, this is the place to hang out and have some fun finding out what eggs belong to which program and how to find or activate them. For instance, there's a wacky search menu in Internet Explorer v5, the recently released XBOX has a hidden thankyou, and even a sky set top box has a hidden engineers menu waiting for you to explore - use this one with caution though ;) Ask Jeeves has eight up to yet, as does windows NT, and the humble Commodore and the Amiga both have hidden eggs and books and music may contain more secrets than you think. The site also has a link to THE SLIP UPS ARCHIVE, for all those amusing accidental bloopers or mistakes that missed being noticed, and then made their way to the viewing public. There is a total of 10907 Slip Ups collected so far, which include mistakes on the big and small Screen, funny mistakes in books and goofs made by famous people in speeches and statements. So sit back, let your hair down, get out the choccies, and have some fun for a while. See what you can discover in the Easter Egg and Slip Up Archives, and, if you know of a hidden Egg or Spoof that isn't listed, you can add your discovery to the site for others to enjoy. ;) Happy Hunting! Wishing You A Happy Easter from Net4Nowt P.S. How Do You Eat Yours? :p NTL Warns Of Debt Crisis The group says "various uncertainties" remain - including its ability to maintain adequate liquidity - while it attempts to come up with alternatives for refinancing the debt. NTL has been forced to cut jobs in the face of escalating debt, cutting its workforce from 21,800 at the start of 2001 to some 14,000 today. But it warns: "There can be no assurance that we will successfully complete a recapitalisation or financing in a timely manner in order to sustain the company's operations." The group has reported exceptional charges of £8 billion in 2001, mainly due to redundancy costs taken in the fourth quarter. It has posted fourth-quarter core profits, before one off costs, of £159 million - up from £65 million - as revenue grew to £678 million from £586 million over the same period. The group reported full-year core profits of £492 million, up from £229 million in 2000. But it posted a net loss of £11.1 billion after taking a one-off hit of £7.79 billion because of the lower value of assets. Chief executive Barclay Knapp says, "Operationally, this is a strong business." "Achieving our growth milestones during a challenging overall environment for the industry, while undergoing substantial organisational change, speaks well of the quality of our operating businesses." Source: Ananova.com Microsoft Joke Book Released Today The book contains an extensive collection of humorous material about Microsoft. "It is totally a coincidence that this new edition coincides with the renewal of the Microsoft monopolistic business practices trial," states Tim Barry, industry pundit and author/editor of the book. "But it does prove our point that Microsoft continues to be topical - which makes it an ongoing source of humorous material." According to Barry, a well-known technologist, former Infoworld columnist, the book contains dozens of individual jokes, Top 10 Lists, poems, puns, mock news releases, song parodies, and other humorous items plus a glossary containing over 200 "Winfamous" definitions. Also new in this edition is a bonus chapter of "101 of the Best Light Bulb Jokes" ever. The book focuses on Microsoft company culture, new product development, Windows and, of course, Bill Gates - who again gets two whole chapters to himself. All treatments are original and many items have never appeared elsewhere. Further details can be found at the book's website. UK Sees First Drop In Internet Users The figures so far for March suggest that this could be a trend rather than just a one-off. Although the drop is small, it is significant. In total there were one million fewer Internet users last month than there were 3 months ago. Usage at work has remained the same, as has school or college access. However usage at home has dropped. Each year since 1995 there has been a slight dip in Internet usage in mid-summer as students left campuses for summer vacation. However there has never before been a drop in February, making the change unlikely to be a seasonal effect. There are new people coming online but not in sufficient numbers to outweigh those that are discontinuing their Internet use. It's hard to say whether the number of new users is falling or the number of ex-users is rising. Probably both is happening. In the past 3 months about 2 million have started using the Internet but 3 million have lapsed. In GB, a huge total of 7 million adults have used the Internet in the past but no longer do so. Why have 7 million people ceased to use the Internet? For around half it's because they lose access, perhaps because they move away from home or leave work or college. A third say that they can't find the time to use it. Other people are disillusioned with it; they say it's boring, too slow, not for them, not useful or not convenient. For a tenth of lapsed users it's seen as too expensive. Fifteen per cent of lapsed users say that it's too difficult to use. Source: BMRB International AOL To Shut Down Compuserve And Netscape Online An AOL spokesman said Compuserve 2000 and Netscape Online would be terminated by the end of June. He would not disclose the number of subscribers affected, saying only that it represents "a small minority." AOL, the UK's second-biggest Internet service provider with 1.7 million paying subscribers, does not include Netscape and Compuserve customers in its official AOL customer tally. The AOL spokesman added that the affected customers would be offered a free trial of AOL in the meantime. Compuserve Classic, which has hundreds of thousands subscribers in the UK, would not be impacted by the decision, the company said. In Britain, the company has invested heavily to promote the AOL brand over the past two years. The spokesman said AOL will begin advertising an AOL-branded broadband Internet service in the coming weeks as well. AOL is betting heavily that broadband services will help the loss-making AOL Europe unit turn a profit. Last month, BT Group slashed broadband wholesale charges making it possible for ISPs, including AOL and Freeserve, to reduce the retail price for the speedy Net access in the hopes of spurring consumer demand. Source: Reuters Business As Usual Says NTL His message follows: This is the first in a series of regular updates that I'll be posting on this web site to keep you better informed about NTL.Source: nthellworld.com Business Wireless Systems Exposed To Hackers The seven-month investigation was conducted by IT security specialists Digilog UK Ltd. in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce's Cybercrime Unit, who have teamed up to build defences against these intrusions. The new anti-hacker service will include on-site auditing, penetration-testing and improvements to network security, such as reliable encryption and control of transmissions. Institutions handling financial transactions will be able to test their systems and make them secure. The package is not only geared towards protecting powerful institutions but also small companies and even individuals who can be at risk when using the Internet with a wireless card in their own homes. The ICC Cybercrime Unit says that financial institutions, law firms, media organizations and government offices are among those at risk - and the evidence suggests a similar picture exists in other commercial centres throughout the world. The new service comes not a moment too soon. Every day, more companies and individuals are replacing the tangles of wires in their offices with wide-ranging radio transmissions that connect computer terminals to printers, local servers and the Internet. A central transmission hub can serve an entire building. Wireless networks have a built-in encryption system, but in nearly all the companies investigated it had not been set up to work securely. "Wireless systems are cheap, and they're practical because they allow employees to work anywhere on the premises, or even in a nearby park, and stay linked to the network," said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of ICC's crime-fighting division. "But when you go for convenience you have to be careful." According to Captain Mukundan, most companies do not realise that outsiders tuned in to the same wavelength can also read everything happening inside the company's network. "Hackers driving round in a car can access the e-mails people are writing, the financial transactions they are making, the codes they are using to connect to the Internet. And the people inside have no idea that someone is eavesdropping," said Captain Mukundan. "Industrial espionage has become very easy," he added. Digilog's Simon Gunning said, "Cyber-trespassing is becoming a common crime. You can sit in a pub and access the Internet for free through the account of the office next door, simply by using a laptop or pda with a wireless card." And networks are not only at risk from attacks at close-quarters. University research in Hawaii has shown that signals can be intercepted from a distance of over 25 miles, raising fears of large-scale cyber-terrorism. Computer-controlled power grids, telephone networks and water-treatment plants are at risk. According to Digilog, their combined experience in wireless communication and fraud auditing is vital in protecting systems from attack. "IT network managers are not radio engineers," said Mr Gunning. "They cannot be expected to understand the new security risks posed by the trend towards wireless technology." The ICC Cybercrime Unit believes that these factors have caused the market for wireless networks to evolve faster than the application of security measures to protect data. "We recommend that if you have a wireless network, you should make sure it is secure now," said Captain Mukundan. New Visual Password System Uses Images Instead Of Words Well, there may be no need to worry anymore, because in a bid to help those people who have trouble remembering their passwords, Microsoft have developed a new system which uses pictures instead of words. Microsoft claim that people are more adept at remembering pictures as opposed to letters/numbers, and the new technology will allow users easier recollection of complicated number and word combinations so they do not have to rely on their memory alone. The practice of hiding messages in pictures - also known as steganography - may be nothing new, but many see the new system as being the answer to current password problems. Jose Lopez, an analyst at Frost and Sullivan, said: "I think this could be a very good idea if properly implemented. At the moment one of the main concerns for systems administrators is the uncountable calls they receive from users who have forgotten their passwords, especially in those companies where regular change of passwords is a common practice." "Therefore they will welcome any initiative that reduces their work and helps towards achieving greater efficiencies within the company." The "visual password" system has been designed to replace conventional passwords altogether and works by displaying a series of images to the user who then clicks on the relevant (combination of ) pictures/images that form their password. The pictures/images are made up of pixels, which are then converted by Microsoft's software into random numbers which work as encrypted passwords. Source: Silicon AOL Allows Staff To Use Rival Email Packages Previously, AOL staff had to use AOL's own corporate product, but now the company has relaxed the rules concerning what software is permitted within the organisation after admitting that its own product is flawed. Staff complaints about the email product included excessive downtime and security settings, however, the corporate edition is different to the company's home-user version that is distributed with AOL's home Internet access software. EU's Safer Internet Action Plan Extended The Information Society Commissioner, Erkki Liikanen, said that chat rooms and online games will be targeted by the European Commission in a bid to increase awareness. The aim is to help parents, teachers and children become more aware of both the potential of the Internet and its drawbacks such as the vast amount of undesirable content that is readily available. The European Union has been a forerunner in the fight against illegal and harmful content on the Internet since 1996. To read more about the Safer Internet action plan, please click HERE BT's Satellite Service Could Become A Reality Currently ADSL is only available to about 70% of the UK with many homes and offices being too far from local exchanges. With satellite technology now on trial in Northern Ireland and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the news will mean that BT will be able to offer broadband to nearly every British home and business. For a single user, broadband satellite will cost £59.99 a month, a reduction from the trial price of £69.99. However, this is on top of a connection charge of £899, which covers the cost of a satellite dish and broadband connection box. For multiple users, the monthly rental drops from £139.99 to £109.99 a month. The multi-user installation fee is £1,299 and allows up to four personal computers to be connected. BTopenworld, the group?s Internet business, says broadband satellite will allow users to download files at up to 500 kilobits per second - about 10 times faster than with a conventional dial-up connection over a telephone line. The service will be available from tomorrow. Source: Sunday Times Nildram Launch Entry Level ADSL Service Home 500 Lite provides Broadband ADSL access for £25.99 (inc VAT) per month and can be ordered via the Nildram ADSL specific web site at: www.getadsl.co.uk Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's marketing manager commented, "This year is proving to be a very interesting one for broadband services in the UK and we are delighted, once again, to be able to announce the launch of a new entry level service which we believe will be a popular choice for new broadband users." The new ADSL service requires a USB modem and splitter/filter. It is subject to a minimum contract period of 12 months and has a contention ratio of 50:1 Do You Want To Be An Online Gaming Champion? The Internet gaming tournament will begin with online heats throughout May and June, and the final will take place at a live event in London. The games included in the competition will be: Counter-Strike Return to Castle Wolfenstein FIFA 2002 Speed Chess Prizes will be dished out for great performances in the online heats "including losing with style", and there will also be cash amounts given for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each game totalling £20,000. The tournament will be hosted by BT Openworld via its recently acquired Internet games subscription service - Games Domain - and the first 100 to register get a free Games Domain T-shirt. For further information, or to register, please click HERE Warning: Clinton Virus Spreading The virus, known as Caric-A, arrives in an email which carries the subject line 'bill caricature' and the attached file 'cari.scr'. Opening the file causes the Bill Clinton cartoon to appear and triggers a payload which allows the email to be forwarded to anyone listed in a users address book. However, text at the end of the mail could reduce its impact, as written confirmation that the email has been checked for virus content is not convincing to the vigilant eye, since the word 'virus' has not been correctly spelt - instead it says "VIRUSE". For further information, click HERE BT Bill Fails To Show New ADSL Prices For April As a result of the recent cut in the wholesale price for DSL, BTopenworld said it would cut the cost of its service to £29.99 a month from the 1st April, and issued an email to its subscribers which stated: "We're delighted to tell you that we'll be reducing the monthly fee on your BTopenworld Broadband service from 1st April 2002." "This means that your current monthly rental fee of £39.99 will be reduced to only £29.99." "You don't have to do anything, as the reduction will be made automatically from your April bill onwards." The Register was contacted by two individuals who said that the automatic changes had not been made to their bill, which showed they would be charged £39.99 for the month of April. However, BTopenworld have admitted to the failure, and have promised to refund its broadband customers in the form of a credit in their next bill, saying: "Our billing cycle runs from March and new prices which take effect as of April are not visible on this bill." "All customers will receive a credit for the reduced rental price, which takes effect as of April 1, in their next bill." According to the report, it is not yet known how many people have been hit by the glitch. Source: The Register Netscape Online Closure Date AOL have offered subscribers to this troubled service a three-month free trial of the AOL unmetered service. UK Slow To Close Digital Divide Around £30m has been handed over to Rural Development Agencies (RDAs) to find the most cost-effective way of bringing high-speed net access to remote towns such as Buckfastleigh in Devon. It is hoped that Buckfastleigh can become the first rural broadband town, with high-speed net connections in the local school, health centre, town hall and library. However, the government admits that despite making the money available over a year ago, no technology to provide rural broadband has yet been found. For residents living in rural areas, existing technology simply cannot reach them. A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry admitted that so far no solution had yet emerged. Bidding for broadband Satellite could be an option but it is very expensive and so local businesses and public services would have to share the cost. Wireless is also being considered in other remote areas. A brokerage system, where rural businesses and public services collectively bid for broadband is being tested in the east of England. Critics point out that government noises about promoting broadband in rural areas is doing little to find concrete solutions to the problem of a geographical digital divide. Hard to connect For those urban dwellers lucky enough to get their hands on broadband, a survey has found that 41% of users are finding it hard to set up services. The survey, commissioned by software firm Motive Communications, shows that the initial setting up of a broadband connection was frustrating 20% of users. Connecting up to the internet was also flummoxing would-be surfers. Requests for customer service were found to be relatively high with 32% of broadband users requesting help up to three times a month. SOURCE: BBC Internet Use Amongst Women On The Increase The research showed that women spend on average seven hours online, whilst men spend around 10 hours per month. For the 12 months up to February 2002, the number of women online in Europe grew by 29%. The figures show that in February there were 25.1 million women using the Internet in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, compared to 40.1 million men. Not surprisingly, the female Internet audience is largest in the more mature markets with Sweden at 46%, the UK at 42%, Germany at 39% and France at 39% respectively, but it drops to 31% in Italy and 29% for Spain. PlusNet Confirm ADSL Launch At £22.99 There are four different variants based on the above prices: - Standard annual contractPlusNet technical director, Alistair Wyse, stated, ?Our consumer ADSL service, reinforced with the automation and accountability of provisioning and support, along with our commitment to quality of service, means that PlusNet is the best choice for ADSL in the UK.? New Internet Labelling System Launched To Protect Children The system allows content providers to label their sites and parents can then use the filter to block access to sites which they feel are inappropriate for their children. ICRA's aim is to give parents peace of mind by working with the content providers. The self-regulation approach of ICRAfilter ensures that parents can take responsibility for defining the parameters of what is allowed, but sites remain fully accessible for authorised adult users. BTopenworld was the first ISP to sign up to the service. ICRA hopes to have the endorsement of every major ISP in the world by the end of the year. Stephen Balkam, Chief Executive Officer of ICRA, commented, ?It is important to state that no organisation, including ICRA, can guarantee a 100% safe surfing experience. Having said that, ICRA does give consumers the most democratic, culturally neutral, self-determining option available. We are delighted that BTopenworld, Tiscali & others are adopting the ICRAfilter and urge other manufacturers and ISPs to include ICRAfilter or add the functionality of ICRAfilter in their own filtering products.? "The fact that the Internet is largely unregulated is both its biggest strength and its weakness," said Alison Ritchie, CEO at BTopenworld. "While content providers and ISPs should not act as censors, it's essential that they operate by a sound set of ethics. The empowerment of parents and teachers to decide what is and is not acceptable is a big step towards making the Internet a far safer place for children to surf." Camille de Stempel, Director of Security and Network Policy at AOL Europe commented, ?With the power of the Internet allowing access to virtually any kind of information, including the offensive or distressing as well as the educational and informative, we must take every step possible to protect our children while they are online.? Nigel Williams, Chief Executive of Childnet International added, ?As an international non-profit organisation committed to making the Internet a great place for children, Childnet believes that ICRA is playing a crucial role in developing free tools that will enable parents from different cultures around the world to make their children's online experiences safer.? BTopenworld Study Reveals 'Boomerang Kids' On The Increase However, the survey shows that mums and dads should save their tears, as the 'Boomerang Kids' phenomenon grips the nation. Money, not sentiment, is the main reason why most first-time home leavers return to the family nest. Almost 30 per cent of leavers go home to save money and one in four go back because they can't afford to live away from home. Only 17 per cent return simply because they 'miss being at home'. For modern-day families, technology is central to strengthening these bonds of friendship. While the telephone remains the key tool for keeping in contact with their kids for more than 90 per cent of parents, around 60 per cent of those who have Internet access say they regularly exchange emails with their children to keep in touch. Some 60 per cent of parents email their children every week and more than 30 per cent email twice a week. Only 20 per cent of parents rely on letters to keep in touch with their children. "What's interesting is that many parents have found email brings a new dimension to their relationship with their kids. Many say they show a different side of themselves through email, a side that they might not bring out in verbal communication. The same often seems to be true of children communicating with their mums and dads through email," adds Ingram. NetAxis Extends Free ADSL Installation Offer Established in 1996, netAxis made cuts to its ADSL pricing immediately following BT's announcement last month. Their self-install ADSL 500 single user product is now priced at £24.95 +VAT a month. Ethernet based network products are also available. netAxis is the Internet solutions arm of Albion Computers and has thousands of business customers. The ISP offers a complete range of e-business solutions including unmetered ISDN, ADSL and leased lines with guaranteed levels of performance and reliability. Many broadband providers have dropped their prices with many more expected in April. But by offering free installation it may help netAxis tip the balance in the battle for new business customers. Survey Finds Lack Of Knowledge Will Hinder Broadband Uptake The survey, commissioned by a U.S. firm selling online customer service and troubleshooting software, indicated that the work involved in setting up a faster connection required computing knowledge and could even confuse online "experts". Out of the users surveyed, it was discovered that, despite only 10 per cent considering themselves to be Internet "beginners", almost two-thirds experienced difficulties during the set-up and start-up of a high-speed connection. It was also found that one third had the expense of phoning up relevant support centres three times per month, and less than one per cent of the population have the broadband access required for downloading large amounts of video and audio data. Donald Tait, research analyst at consultancy Frost & Sullivan commented: This survey suggests that much work still needs to occur in order to achieve 'Broadband Britain. Crucially, services providers need to resolve these basic service issues, otherwise, broadband will be stifled before it reaches critical mass." BT have now automated a large part of their customer service section, and there are plans to close many of their original call centres according to reports. However, the wholesale price for broadband is to be officially halved in April, and the company aims to have one million broadband customers by the middle of 2003 - will automated services meet the demand? Source: Total Telecom ASA Uphold Complaints About Misleading BT Ad The first part of the advertisement showed an Internet page that was not loading properly and stated "error 404". The page then changed to state "error 404 connecting" with and in the final stage it stated "error 404 connecting ... eventually". The advertisement then changed so that it featured a "BTopenworld" logo and over four stages stated: "Current ISP letting you down? Switch to BTopenworld Anytime. Surf when you like for £14.99 a month. click here". The objection was that the advertisement was misleading because it implied that 404 errors can be reduced or eliminated by switching to BTopenworld Anytime. The ASA decided to uphold the complaint and found that the advertisement was misleading because of the misuse of the 404 error messages. They considered that the advertisement implied that Internet users could avoid "error 404" messages by changing their ISP to BTopenworld Anytime. The Authority based their decision on the fact that changing ISPs would not help to avoid 404 error messages, and they also felt that the advertisement might exploit a lack of knowledge in some Internet users. The advertisers were told by the ASA to remove the banner advertisement and consult the Committee of Advertising Practice Copy Advice team before using a similar advertisement in future. BTOpenworld Secures 16000 DSL Orders In Last Two Weeks BTopenworld chief exec, Alison Ritchie, said that the sudden surge in demand is "very encouraging," and she believes that BT Group's broader target of installing a million DSL lines over the next year is now achievable. Ritchie also stressed that overall customer satisfaction had improved, and there has been a marked fall in the number of complaints that Oftel receive about the ISP business. New Report Indicates Digital Divide Growing Globally The report suggests that regulators can play a critical role in bridging the digital devide between developed and developing countries: Regulators have a critical role to play in bridging the digital divide by creating a climate conducive to enhanced investment and diffusion of services. However, this can only be achieved if they are given the right tools and resources to become effective: a firm mandate and clear goals; sufficient human and financial resources; adequate enforcement powers; organisational flexibility and timely decision-making. The report also showed that the global rate of telecommunication network growth is increasing, and the latter half of the 1990s saw the sharpest rise since the 1950s. BT And IBM To Offer Corporate Tools For SMEs BT's data centres will host pay-as-you-go access to Lotus iNotes, QuickNotes and Sametime software applications via secure Intel-powered Compaq servers. Mark Lindsay, Lotus product manager at BT Ignite, said: "The idea is to offer a comprehensive platform with a range of scalable applications on a secure server. SMEs have the same concerns as corporates but without the financial resources." "However, they want more sophisticated applications than consumers but aspire to the SLAs [service level agreements] and security that corporates can afford." Similar services from BT Ignite are already offered to larger businesses who, dependant on the service, pay on a per application, per month basis which is priced according to number of users. BT's set up charges for building a dedicated platform for corporate users is currently around £4,500, however these charges would be waived for SMEs according to reports. Source: Silicon BP Forecourts To Distribute BTopenworld Plug & Go CDs From next week, the CDs will be available from BP retail sites across the UK. BP already distribute CDs for BTopenworld?s Anytime service. The CDs will contain all the software and instructions needed to register for BTopenworld's Home 500 Plug & Go broadband product. Once customers have registered (and providing they meet all the criteria for receiving broadband) they will be sent the relevant hardware and a simple step-by-step guide to install the product themselves. Their broadband connection will go live 10 days after purchase. Alison Ritchie, CEO of BTopenworld said, ?This is the first in a series of announcements on companies we will be working with to drive broadband take-up. Last week we revealed a multi-million pound marketing and advertising plan to support our Plug & Go service and lower monthly broadband rental and we will be announcing details of other partners in the near future.? BTopenworld's distribution network for its narrowband products includes 3,000 retail outlets and 12,000 affiliate sites across the UK. BP has been an affiliate partner for BTopenworld's Anytime unmetered narrowband product for nine months. Government Reveals New Broadband Projects The new projects include a broadband town, wired up business parks, broadband links to schools, health-centres and libraries and trials of satellite and wireless technologies. The projects have been designed to meet the individual needs of each region and will be managed by Regional Development Agencies. Projects include: - wiring up business parks in Yorkshire and Humberside with broadband links; - trials of new and varied technologies such as wireless or satellite broadband in rural areas of the East Midlands; - providing SMEs in the South East with broadband connections at reduced or free rates; - setting up broadband demonstrators in local areas allowing people to sample the dramatically different internet experience that is broadband; - 'Broadbanding Buckfastleigh' introducing Buckfastleigh in Devon to the benefits of broadband by linking up the school, health centre, town hall and library to broadband and establishing a community access centre; and, - setting up a 'connecting communities' competition in the East of England, where broadband facilities will be provided in a number of communities, from small villages to market towns to demonstrate the benefits of broadband. Douglas Alexander said, "The UK is amongst the world's leaders for Internet access and e-commerce. In order to maintain this position, our challenge is to advance broadband Internet access. With the help of this £30 million fund, Regional Development Agencies across the country are embarking on innovative and exciting projects that could have a real impact on the roll-out of broadband infrastructure, especially in rural areas where access is currently limited." A free publication highlighting the business benefits that a broadband connection can make has been produced by UK online for business, the DTI-led partnership between industry and government. Copies of the publication can be ordered via the web site www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk or by calling 0845 715 2000. Microsoft Loses Courtroom Battle Over Windows Trademark At the core of Lindows.com is a new operating system called LindowsOS, a modern, affordable, easy-to-use operating system with the ability to run both Windows and Linux software. Michael Robertson, Lindows.com Chief Executive Officer, said, "We're obviously satisfied with the courts ruling. Our hope is that we can move beyond the courtroom and focus on our goal of bringing choice back to the PC business. Microsoft constantly appeals for the ?right to innovate?. I hope they will allow us to roll out our innovative operating system, which will cost a third of Microsoft's products, without further impedance. We've shown we can defend ourselves against a much larger corporation and we'll continue to battle in a trial if necessary." In a written ruling handed down late Friday, the court denied Microsoft Corporation's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Lindows.com from using the terms "LindowsOS" and "Lindows.com." Judge John C. Coughenour found that Microsoft had not shown that Lindows.com should be prevented from using the names Lindows.com and LindowsOS as part of their business, stating that, "Microsoft has raised serious questions about the validity of its trademark [Windows]." The entire ruling can be read at www.lindows.com/opposition. Internet Subscriptions Continue To Rise According To ISP Survey The survey, released by the Government's Office for National Statistics, is updated every month and reveals customer trends for Internet Service Providers. The latest monthly update to the survey shows that December 2001 to January 2002 seen the highest monthly increase in Internet subscriptions at a rate of 4.2 per cent for dial-up connections. For broadband connections there was an increase of 10.7 per cent. A number of service providers attributed this to the effect of Christmas demand. Numbers of subscriptions to the Internet rose during the first quarter of 2001 by 4.3 per cent before falling during each month of the second quarter. During the second quarter of 2001 subscriptions fell by 2.3 per cent. However, since June 2001 the number of Internet subscriptions has increased each month with significant growth being displayed during August and October of 2001 and January of 2002. Dial-up connections continued to dominate the overall number of subscriptions, but with permanent connections continuing to increase their share. Compared with December 2001, subscription levels in January 2002 increased by 4.2 per cent for dial-up connections and 10.7 per cent for permanent connections. Dial-up connections continued to dominate the overall number of subscriptions, but with permanent connections continuing to increase their share. Permanent connections made up 3.2 per cent of total subscriptions in January 2002, up from 3.0 per cent in December 2001. From Programmers To Game Players! Source Edit is an excellent freeware editing and developing tool that can also be used as a regular text editor and natively supports the following 9 languages: *ASP *PHP *JAVA *C/C++ * VISUAL BASIC *PASCAL *PERL *C# *SQL *HTML *XML Source Edit quickly and seamlessly colours all code written in any of these or other similar languages (like JSP, Java- or VB scripts). You can also add other language definition by using the Language Editor. The program supports recording of keyboard macros that can be saved as a keyboard shortcut (for example Ctrl+1) and to the toolbar. Source Edit can also repeat any command any number of times automatically. You can also add any custom tool to Source Edit tools menu and toolbar. This is useful for example when you want to compile your code. This feature also supports capturing of any output from the application you call, and the output may be shown in the Output Window. If your compiler supports EMAC-style output Source Edit will also highlight the line in the editor where any errors or warnings has occurred in the code when you click on the message in the Output Window. Source Edit supports any number of bookmarks in your code or document. Simply add a bookmark and you can then return to that part of the text with the click of a button. This is very handy when you're working with large documents. Source Edit is highly customisable. You can change or set keyboard shortcut to all commands available. You can change how code is colorised. You can also set the "file mapping". By file mapping you associate different file types to different languages, so when you open or save a file with a *.cpp extension, for example, Source Edit will immediately use the C/C++ colour coding. You are also able to change what files are shown in the Open and Save As dialogue boxes. Other features supported by Source Edit include unlimited undo and redo commands, quick file opening using the Files Window, find and replace with the ability to find and select all occurrences of a searched text and much more. This program is FREE, although please be aware that I have not had time to test the program for spyware etc. The program is also being continually developed, and a forum has been set up recently to help with questions and to report bugs. To find out more information, to view screenshots, or to download this program, please click HERE NOW I know what you are thinking, this program is hardly the ideal average home-user download, but there are a few users on Net4Nowt who finds this area of computing interesting and want to develop their skills further, so it is nice to cater for all tastes ;) I did think of those who wouldn't be interested though, and the first one for you is an old favourite in the gaming world, but with great 3D effects. With all the high-tech games on the market at the moment, it is nice to think of the good old games that only required minimal RAM and that would run fast on a P233! If you like Asteroids, you will love this 3D version of it. Asteroids is an all time favourite with many, and this is one of the best freeware versions available, and one that I enjoy playing myself on the quiet. ;) You can view screenshots and download the game HERE Still not enough? Okay then, if you are a real fan of the older games, then this site may be all you need to feed your craving. Featuring classic arcade, console and computer games that have been remade and distributed, and, best of all, each game is totally FREE to keep as long as you like! Many of the remakes contain enhanced graphics and sound and have had many levels and features added to them that aren't in the original versions, just click HERE and have some fun! If you are not into programming or the older games then maybe you could suggest a download for review ? ;) In fact if anyone has any favourite downloads of any category that you feel may be of use to others, please send a brief description of the download, your personal opinion of it, and the relevant link to sarah@net4nowt.com - FREEWARE if possible please, but all suggestions considered. New.net Teams with Applied Semantics To Deliver Browser Based Search Aptly named Quick!, the new breakthrough search product allows users to type search requests directly into an Internet browser address bar and access highly relevant search results without having to visit a search website or use a separate search window. The company claims that over 100 million users already have automatic access to the Quick! service which is primarily made possible through New.net partnerships with leading ISPs world-wide. Applied Semantics' award-winning CIRCA technology, combined with highly relevant results from the Open Directory Project (ODP), the most comprehensive human-edited directory on the Web, ensures that people using Quick! receive the most relevant search results via a more intuitive method of searching. Alternatively, users can type http://www.quick.search into their browser address bar which will enable a simplified directory for performing searches on some of the most common queries such as shopping for cars, booking airline travel, or securing loans. Telcos Must Exploit DSL Technology Or Be Marginalised Says Senior Analyst He believes that digital subscriber line offers the ability for telcos to deliver interactive, individualised, video content on-demand that can be competitively equal to the voice, Internet and TV packages from rival cable and satellite operators. However, Main also said that before telcos are able to take advantage of the true extent of DSL technology, they will need to "get to grips" with complex issues. These issues include service, delivery and billing, forming partnerships with content providers and building a viable customer base, and Main added: "Video-on-demand and pay-per-view TV are rising in popularity, and broadcasters are starting to add interactivity to their production material to increase its stickiness. DSL is becoming important as a means of delivering TV-based services, using on-demand and increasingly user-controlled content." "To date, ADSL (asymmetric DSL - the most widespread current offering) has been marketed as little more than a faster, always-on Internet connection. Consumers aren't yet convinced the extra performance justifies the price and there's not a lot of money in it for the telcos." "Fast Internet access is also available through cable modems, often more cheaply than DSL, and bundled with voice services which also undercut the telcos." According to Main, if the benefits of DSL technology are fully utilised, end provision could easily compete with the cable and satellite offerings. An example of this would be the ability to provide true real-time video-on-demand services for consumers. This is one niche of the market that cable and satellite companies are unable to provide, instead they offer "stagger-casting" with showings beginning at 15 minute intervals. "Telcos will need to learn quickly but they have to do it," says Main. "They must look 10 to 20 years on. With 3G mobile, companies couldn't afford not to get a licence, so they bet their businesses on it. Similarly, you could argue that telcos must get into broadband service provisioning, or be marginalised." Click0808 Offers Anytime Access For £6.49 Per Month So, in other words, you could have "anytime dial-up" freephone access for just £6.49 per month, - right? Well, you could, but the big downfall is that the access has to be paid 12 months in advance, totalling £77.88 - a substantial amount to pay considering the volatility of the unmetered access market. In-depth information is certainly not a strong point of the "Click0808" website, which boasts: Access the Internet anytime, for as long as you like, every day throughout the year, for just £6.49 a month including all call charges. Our service uses BT's latest infrastructure to provide you with quality, high-speed, low cost access to the internet whenever you want it. Fixed price means no nasty surprises regardless of how much time you spend online - stay on line all day long in your business, and don't worry about the kids surfing the Internet all night as well! It will cost you just the same - £6.49 a month including your telephone call charges - however long you connect to the Internet. PLUS all subscribers receive their own email address with web mail access so that you can check your emails and send messages from any Internet café, home or office anywhere around the world. You can view the full website HERE, although the general theme of the provision seems akin to the that of IGClick and RedHotAnt don't you think? Net4Nowt cannot stress enough the importance of thoroughly reading the terms and conditions of any provision that you may consider signing up for, together with some research into the ISP to verify their credibility. Customs VAT Policy Update Clarifies AOL's FutureTAX Position The latest Business Brief from Customs & Excise was the result of a review that was conducted in consultation with a number of the major ISPs providing Internet service packages, based both in the UK and outside the EC. Previously according to the law, AOL was exempt from VAT charges because it was previously classed as a content provider and its headquarters remained outside the European Community. The update considered and included the following: A lasting, fair and clear approach, whereby all Internet service packages supplied by UK and non-EC ISPs are taxed in a similar way can only, in Customs' view, be successfully achieved through material changes to the relevant EC VAT rules. Such changes are now in prospect through the terms of the VAT and e-commerce Directive (to be formally adopted shortly). This Directive further amends the EC place of supply rules for services so as to establish an additional category of services (including digitalised products, and so content provision) which are subject to VAT not by reference to the location of the supplier but by reference to the location, ordinarily, of the consumer. As a consequence of these changes, with effect from 1 July 2003, all Internet service packages will be subject to tax in the EC irrespective of the location of the supplier and/or the balance between the constituent elements of the package. Thus non-EC ISPs (such as AOL), will be required to account for VAT on their services. However, the VAT war against AOL may not end here yet, because although Customs have agreed to implement changes - (with effect from 2003) - in the favour of Freeserve and BT, both ISPs will have to decided if they want to continue to legally challenge AOL's VAT-free status as planned. The full Business Brief can be viewed HERE New Self-Install Products Continue To Launch Under the company?s Demon Internet brand, Thus took advantage of the recent price cuts from BT. Demon Express Solo allows customers to have always-on access to the Internet at an affordable price. By installing their own USB DSL modem and telephone socket filters, Demon Express Solo customers will receive a full Internet access service with unlimited email addresses, and up to 512Kb downstream bandwidth and 256Kb upstream. There is a one-off fee of £50 including VAT. Announcing the new products last month, Bill Allan, Chief Executive, THUS plc said, "BT?s announcement that it was cutting the cost of DSL wholesale was a bold move and has enabled us to offer a compelling product to our customers.? NTL Customers To Benefit From New Unmetered Provider Currently, with the exception of AOL, unmetered access in the UK is restricted to BT telephone customers. But from 1st May Gio Internet plan to provide its unmetered access packages to NTL telephone customers. Haris Isaac from Gio told us the service will initially be for NTL customers and then roll out to all cable customers. Isaac said, ?We do not envisage changing the price structure as offered to our customers at present (BT), NTL/cable customers will be able to sign up to the same packages.? Gio Internet?s unmetered packages are FRIACO based and therefore require a BT line. Their most popular package, ?Gio Universal?, offers 24/7 access with no call fees for just £7.99 per month. Zen Internet Reveals New Broadband Pricing Zen's Marketing Manager, Ian Buckley, commented, "BT Wholesale made a fantastic move with their price cuts and we wholeheartedly commend them on this bold step. This new pricing will enable us to roll-out ADSL to the mass market and should really push the UK up in the Broadband league tables." Zen has also decided that it will concentrate on its Home and Office self-install services and no longer supply the BT installed single and multi-user services. Zen has taken the decision to supply only ZenADSL Home and Office self-install services based on the many advantages over the BT installed range from both a sales and support perspective. By supplying the ZenADSL Home and Office services, the company will be able to provide a higher level of service and support to its customers – an integral part of Zen’s company philosophy. Existing (BT installed) single and multi-user customers will continue to be fully supported and will also benefit from the revised pricing which equates to annual savings of up to £540. Buckley added, "Until now pricing hasn't been that serious an issue for companies, but with the BT Wholesale price reductions, there is now an even bigger incentive to reduce their online costs. The features of broadband are clear - high-speed Internet access at a fixed cost. Now we need to educate businesses as to how this can benefit them - real-time e-mail, less time waiting for downloads, leading to a more productive workforce." The new prices will be available to customers ordering from 22nd March, and the reductions will be passed on to existing customers from 1st April. Full details can be found here. AOL Tests Netscape Technology It is assumed within the industry that this is an indication that the content provider may switch to Netscape with the release of the AOL 8.0 software later this year. According to a letter send to testers, the current beta, named Talon, is intended to test the functionality of AOL 7.0 software with Netscape Gecko. Originally, AOL hoped to have Gecko ready for the launch of AOL 7 last year, but failed tests meant that the company had to stay with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Attempt To Block Spam Backfires On BT The measures, which allow the filtering and deleting of spam mail, were introduced by BT on Tuesday. However, BT's failure to inform its subscribers of the new policy has resulted in the filtering and deletion of consumers emails. UK software developer Barwick Systems, which uses a BT ADSL account for email and Web connectivity, were affected by the glitch, although the company did not discover the missing emails until Wednesday. Network manager Paul Stockton said that BT initially thought the problem lay with the Eudora email client (with Winroute Pro as an SMTP server) that his company used, and he explained: "They said they don't offer support unless we use (Microsoft) Outlook. I didn't want to get into argument about why we don't use Outlook in our company because of viruses, but told them it was nothing to do with the email client." "... According to our log files the emails had been sent out and had gone through BT's SMTP server at smpt.btclick.com." "It turned out that in BT's attempt to combat junk email, they had added a rule to their SMTP server to check the headers in all emails. If the received-from part of the header says unspecified.host then it treats them as spam and deletes them." Stockton also said that in his opinion, BT have taken the wrong approach in their efforts to combat spam, although he appreciates the need to prevent spam mail. Stockton also felt very annoyed at BT's failure to inform its subscribers before implementing the changes, and was concerned about how many other businesses had been affected with the changes. BT was unavailable for comment according to reports. Source: ZDNet Affinity To Acquire Small Australian ISP Phoneware currently has an ISP consumer database of approximately 8,000 generating an annual turnover of around $3 million. Together with Affinity's existing infrastructure, savings of approximately $250,000 per annum are expected. Through the improvement margins, the Board believes the deal will provide a positive contribution to the profit and loss account through the improvement in margins. A turnover of $5 million is expected to be generated from the newly combined Australian ISP business. Net Shake-Up Plan Prompts Protests But others say the plan will not achieve its aim and does nothing to give the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, (Icann), the power it needs to make changes to the way the net is run. One member of Icann's board has called the plan "corporate suicide". Icann was created in November 1998 and took over from the US-based Network Solutions in co-ordinating the work of the many organisations that keep the net running. But the organisation has never fully resolved questions about how it should function and who should participate in its decision-making. At a meeting in Accra, Ghana, Icann said that the 500 million people who use the internet should have a voice in overseeing the system that guides e-mail and web browsers around the net. But it stopped short of opening itself up to global elections. Instead, the board set up a committee to come up with a specific plan by the time Icann next meets in Romania in June. Icann President Stuart Lynn has proposed co-opting a small number of government representatives onto the organisation's management board to give the net body more influence and resources. At the same time, Icann would do away with directors directly elected by net users worldwide. Mr Lynn predicted that such an organisation would have an annual budget of up to $43million. Some of this money would be gathered from the organisations who run the generic domains (such as .com and .info) and from those who oversee country code domains (such as .uk and .fr). However, Icann has had a long running dispute with many of the organisations that run country code domains. Many of these registries want Icann to formalise its handling of the root servers that hold copies of the master address book for the net. Willie Black, managing director of .uk overseer Nominet, said Mr Lynn's plan was a step in the wrong direction. "I don't think there's a need for a revolution here," he said. Many country code registries would prefer a smaller Icann that exercised trusteeship over the net's root servers. They do not like the idea of a larger organisation that gets involved in weighty questions of net security and other global policy issues, said Mr Black. He said that parallels could be drawn between Icann and organisations such as the UK's Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency which keeps records of drivers and vehicles but does not try to catch speeding drivers. He said many of the country code registries were now more likely to concentrate efforts and resources on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (Iana) - which is more closely involved with the maintenance of the database listing who runs which domain. Mr Lynn's plan provoked a statement from the Réseaux IP Européens, (Ripe) which said it was now re-assessing its relationship with Icann. Ripe ensures that net addresses are handed out fairly in Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Andy Duff, spokesman for New.net which runs domains outside Icann's orbit, said it too would welcome a smaller organisation that co-ordinated, rather than mandated, the running of the net. My Lynn's plan has also provoked protests from Greenpeace and Japanese civil liberty groups. But, some of the strongest criticism has come from Icann board member Karl Auerbach who was elected last year by net users worldwide. He branded the plan "suicide". Mr Auerbach said Mr Lynn's plan had little chance of success because governments would be unwilling to pay to join an organisation they set up to avoid the onerous task of overseeing the net. Instead of trying to grow larger Icann should content itself with looking after the net's root database, said Mr Auerbach. "That isn't an expensive job nor even a controversial one," he said. SOURCE: BBC News Pipex Blames BT For ADSL Performance Drops However, Pipex has denied that this is due to its ADSL service being oversubscribed and is blaming BT for drops in performance. The ISP claims that BT are reluctant to help high-speed access providers cope with the extra demand created by the recent broadband price cuts, and low performance is due to the technical limitations of the technology itself. Although Pipex claim to be subscribing around 500 new customers per day, they are adamant that the downgrade in network performance is because of the two following factors: Firstly, Pipex suggests that users share a limited amount of bandwidth because ADSL is a 'contended' service - the higher number of users equals lower performance. Secondly, the drop in ADSL prices has created extra demand for the service which is now being placed on the pipes linking ISPs' servers to BT's infrastructure, and Pipex believe that BT has failed to do all it can to balance this out. David Rickard, managing director of Pipex, commented: "ADSL is a contended service, where up to 50 users have to share one 512 Kbps pipe. The problem with ADSL currently is customer expectations, which are high because so far one pipe has been shared by very few users due to low demand. That's the difference between DSL and leased lines." "We said to our customers, 'If you want a half megabit service guaranteed you're going to have to pay £10,000 a year for a leased line. ADSL is not a half feed.' I don't think people understand just how expensive bandwidth is." Andrew Parker, senior analyst in technology leadership at Forrester Research added that Pipex's "fat pipe problem" can be expected to hit other ISPs soon: "This is like the early days of Internet dial-up services revisited. Popular ISPs of the month would be the most unpopular the next month because they'd be overloaded with users and unable to provide the expected quality of service." "We've predicted a major shake out in the ISP market for two years now - that over time users will migrate to more established and reliable providers. This kind of issue will just accelerate that shake up." Silicon reports that Pipex has spread its subscribers over another two pipes to resolve current problems. BT was unable to comment to Silicon at time of publication. Source: Silicon Gio Internet Offer Unrestricted Unmetered Access Gio Internet state that their new FRIACO based suite of unmetered Internet access products provide no restrictions to the number of hours a user is online or how much data is downloaded on a monthly basis. The new packages have been tailored towards both domestic and small business users, and the ISP has also been voted by The Sunday Times to be the best ISP for business. Gio also claim that their "Universal 24/7" access package represents the UK's cheapest Free Internet Access Package, even cheaper than other ISP's 'Evening Only' packages. Details of the packages on offer are as follows: "Gio Universal" is their most popular package that offers 24/7 Internet access service for the home user. The price is £7.99 (inclusive of VAT) per month, and there is a 2 hour cut-off procedure - but the ISP state that you may connect again instantly. "Gio Unlimited" is directed at the advance user who regularly downloads data and likes multiple browser surfing. This is priced at £14.99 per month, (VAT inclusive), and is different to "Gio Universal" in that it is classed as a "low contention" 24/7 Internet access service. A two hour cut-off period is implemented again, but users may reconnect. "Gio Business" is aimed at the business user who predominantly requires unmetered daytime access from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday. As this only operates between 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, a "Pay As You Go" local rate service from Gio (or another supplier) may be added for evening use if required. This package also incorporates a two hour cut-off period. All the above packages incorporate a 'no restrictions' theme in that Gio claim that they do not restrict the number of hours you are on-line or how much data you download. For further information, please click HERE. Please note: Users are encouraged to FULLY read the terms and conditions of any access provision from any ISP before signing up to their chosen package. New Virus Spreading By Email | ||