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Telewest To Offer Broadband At Unmetered Prices From May 1, blueyonder broadband subscriptions will be just £13.48 for the first three months, as opposed to the standard £25 charge. In a statement David Hobday, S & M director at Telewest Broadband, said: "BT has made a big fuss over its belated wholesale ADSL price cuts recently, but we don't think they would have the broadband-nerve to offer customers such good value with an optional installation refund." Unfortunately the service will only be available to those who live in Telewest's franchise areas. Telewest also offer a 'Talk Unlimited ' landline phone service that allows the user to call local & national numbers anywhere in the UK at any time day or night for a flat fee of £25 per month including line rental. SOURCE: The Register Satellite2 High Speed Business Service From BTopenworld Now Fully Launched The service has been designed for businesses that are unable to get broadband access because they've been 'out of range' of their telephone exchange. The provider has also cut prices and claims that they are able to offer amongst the cheapest monthly rentals for Satellite Broadband in the UK. The service offers high speed Internet access with an always on' connection with download speeds up to 500Kbps and upload speeds up to 150Kbps. Extra email addresses are also provided along with 20MB of Web space and a dedicated business homepage. To find out more information, please click HERE. FT Users To Be Charged Up To £200 Per Year "Since I became editor six months ago, I have lost count of the number of times business leaders have praised ft.com but, in the next breath, asked me why on earth we don't charge for at least part of our excellent online offering." The charges - one at £75 for a year and the other at £200 - are for access to different online services such as the latest news, and are due to be implemented next month. SOURCE: Netimperative Security: Winamp Contains Buffer Overflow Vulnerability It is possible to modify an existing mp3 file in such a way that it can carry a virus. The virus is activated when the mp3 file is played in Winamp and can then infect other mp3 files found on harddrives or networkshares. In order to protect yourself you need to upgrade to Winamp 2.80 or disable the minibrowser. A buffer overflow vulnerability can be exploited by using the ID3v2 tag which can be found in an MP3 file. It's a newer version of the ID3v1tag and carries information like title, artist and album. The tag is parsed by Winamp when a mp3 file is loaded. If the minibrowser is enabled, Winamp will try to query a script onhttp://info.winamp.com for extra information about the song, based on data from the ID3v2 tag. The buffer overflow condition occurs when the url string intended to be sent to the minibrowser is created. That means the buffer overflow occurs before any actual Internet connection to info.winamp.com is being made. Upgrading to version 2.80 can correct the problem as can disabling the mini-browser, but it may be better to implement both solutions to completely avoid the vulnerability. Click HERE to upgrade your Winamp player. New Unmetered Service To Launch In May Named friaconet, the provider is currently testing their dialup platform before releasing the service consisting of 0808 and 0800 access. According to the friaconet webpage, prices for the services are to be announced shortly, but web based email, pop3 email, smtp connection, news group feed and webspace will be included. There will be a disconnection time of two hours per session together with a 15 minute inactivity time-out. However, the page states that there will be no bandwidth or usage limits, and, as the service will be supplied on a monthly basis, there is no commitment to continue after a months use. ISP Review reports that one of the ISPs support advisors informed them that friaconet is not a NeonHippo reseller and buys its ports directly from BT. SOURCE: ISP Review Esat First To Unbundle Ireland’s Local Loop By December 2002 Esat plans to have unbundled 40 exchanges that can potentially serve some 400,000 lines. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is the name given to the technology that provides a dedicated circuit between the customer and a telephone exchange. This allows customers to have high-speed data transfer over existing copper telephone lines, creating always-on Internet access. Esat has already begun taking orders for this service, which is being rolled out on an exchange-by-exchange basis over the coming months. An exchange in Limerick City is the first to benefit from the service, to be closely followed by Ballina. Customers will be able to choose from a range of DSL product offerings, including: - 512k/256k Asymmetrical serviceUp until now, the monthly cost for a company accessing the Internet for six hours each day on a 128K ISDN line was €240.74. DSL yields savings of up to 65% with a faster and more reliable service over the same time period. Commenting on the launch today, Bill Murphy, CEO, Esat Group said, "Unbundling the local loop will bring further choice and advanced services to customers. The vision of the Government in providing funding to enable this programme is welcomed. Esat has consistently pushed the market by introducing new and innovative products and once again we are taking the lead." Esat is also planning to provide SDSL, (Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) to customers over the coming months. Comet Launches Mobile Phone Recycling Programme As part of the initiative, the company are supplying the entire UK population with prepaid envelopes to send old and unwanted phones to a recycling company called XS Tronix, who will dismantle the handsets. According to the report, around 30 per cent of the handsets XS Tronix currently collects are sold off to developing countries and are stripped for parts. Chris Bruce-Payne, COO of XS Tronix said that the company currently deals with up to three thousand discarded handsets each day. Source: Silicon Latest UK Internet Survey From Oftel 46% of UK households have Internet access and a further 4% claim to use the Internet from various locations, broadly unchanged since November 2001. Unmetered packages remain most popular – currently used by 43% of Internet households - and consumers continue to prefer PSTN/dial up access. The average weekly household time spent on line is currently 9 hours. This has increased from the average 8 hours reported since August 2001. Heavier users tend to be younger to middle age groups, larger households and higher income groups. There are 3% Internet homes using broadband – according to recent subscriber figures despite over half of adults with home Internet access being aware of DSL or cable modem services. The most popular source of information on DSL/cable modem services was advice from friends and relatives. 9 out of 10 households (89%) are satisfied with their overall Internet service, however, those using subscription and calls packages are amongst those least satisfied with their service. The overall profile of Internet households remains broadly similar to recent quarters – the only real change since August 2000 being the steady rise in the proportion of C2DE households and lower income groups with Internet access. To read the full results of the survey, please click HERE. BBC Pulls The Plug On Beeb Ventures Beeb.net, the company’s ISP business will also be transferred to BBC Worldwide although we don't know how this will affect customers. In a statement the company said: "Websites including those relating to Radio Times and Top Gear will be run by Worldwide's magazine business. A number of other magazine-related websites, for example Top of the Pops, will no longer be transactional and will operate as marketing sites for the relevant magazine." In total, 38 beeb Ventures staff will be moved to new jobs elsewhere in the BBC or will have to find work elsewhere, the company said. Source: Silicon.com BT And Easynet Release White Paper On DSL In Business Research presented in the white paper highlights that ADSL can typically provide small and medium businesses with cost savings of around £30,000 per year. The white paper also shows that DSL's key strengths - low initial and ongoing costs, fast interconnection speeds, always-on connectivity and increased competitiveness will provide five tangible business benefits allowing SMEs to compete more effectively with larger businesses. Productivity - Fast data speeds and no need for re-connection reduces time spent accessing data services and waiting for downloads. The study suggests the average business user can save at least 30 minutes a day on accessing web pages alone. Stable costs - Standard fixed monthly service charges allow SMEs greater visibility of their Internet expenditure. Improved customer service - Real-time connectivity allows businesses to react quickly to customer enquiries and forge closer links with suppliers, enabling real-time inventory control and easier stock ordering. Inter-office connectivity - DSL's high-speed data transfer via always on, fixed cost connection provides a highly effective remote access solution for SME teleworkers. Increased competitiveness - Broadband access technologies allow SMEs to further extend their reach to cover a wider geographic scope, enabling a pan-European or global strategy to be employed more efficiently than previously possible. David Rowe, CEO, easynet, commented, "As this report clearly shows, DSL is a great opportunity. The findings further validate the healthy competition which exists between BT and easynet and which is driving forward the Broadband Business promise for the UK. The recent launch of easynet's Business Broadband services including super-fast ADSL (up to 8mbps downstream) and synchronous SHDSL (for leased line replacement), further support this aim." Thus Shows Increase In Internet Revenues The results show Internet sales of £81.7 million, up from £76.1m the previous year, and data and telecoms turnover increased 39% to £142.5 million, with fourth quarter sales up 26% to £42.8 million compared with quarter three. The increase in turnover came both from increased sales of voice and data services to existing customers and from the addition of new customers to the company's national network. Commenting on the results Chief Executive, William Allan, said: "These results mark the end of a year of challenge and achievement for THUS, during a period of unprecedented turbulence in the telecommunication sector." "Under both the previous and current accounting policy, we have met our targets for turnover growth and positive EBITDA for the full year." "In addition to this, we have raised sufficient additional funding to see us through to cash flow positive and secured one of the strongest balance sheets in our sector." Turnover from the Scottish Power Facilities Management contract was £21.2 million, down 12% year on year, and residential telephone service sales were £1.1 million, down 56%. You can read the full preliminary report by clicking HERE. Consumers Take Advantage Of Number Portability Nearly 2.5 million households have used number portability since it was introduced 1996, to enable consumers to switch suppliers without the inconvenience of having to change their telephone number. The findings are contained in Oftel’s quarterly research into residential consumers use of fixed, mobile and Internet services. The research reveals that: - 78 per cent of consumers were given accurate information about how to port their phone number regardless of whether they contacted their preferred or existing supplier;David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications said, "One in ten households have changed their fixed line telephone suppler while keeping their phone number in order to get a better deal. It is important that consumers get accurate information about what is involved in changing suppliers and keeping their telephone number." Separate research from Oftel published today shows that over three quarters of consumers were given accurate information about how to transfer their phone number to a new fixed line operator while remaining at the same address. Microsoft Could Rescue ITV Digital The US software giant is believed to be one of several parties showing a serious interest in buying the firm's assets and has requested information packs from administrators Deloitte & Touche. The administrators will meet at least one consortium over the next two days, and an announcement could come as early as Wednesday. The exact composition of the Microsoft consortium was still being negotiated this weekend, but it is believed to include a telecoms infrastructure provider, and there is speculation that BT could be involved. A number of venture capital firms, keen to back ITV Digital managing director Rob Fyfe, have also expressed an interest. A Microsoft spokeswoman said: "It is our policy never to comment on market speculation and rumour". However, it is known that the company is keen to become a major player in the interactive television market, having taken stakes in the UK cable firms, NTL and Telewest. Source: The Observer Build Your Own Computer Over the next couple of weeks or so, I want to focus on building, upgrading and fixing computers in the hope that some of our members may learn a little more and begin to challenge computer related issues for themselves, while hopefully saving some money in the process, so let's begin! First and foremost, used correctly, the Internet can be a great resource of information for computer related issues, but the problem sometimes is that differing information can be both confusing and misleading, especially to the new enthusiast. There are many sites that give information on how to build or upgrade your own computer, but many times I have found that some important information is missed, or that some information is misleading. All in all, it can be a little difficult to find a well-laid out site that covers everything the first-time user needs to know, along with easy navigation and instructions that are written in layman's terms instead of the normal computer jargon that can immediately put a first-time user off from investigating further. There is no need to spend hours searching for such a site though because, after searching for the almost 'perfect beginners guide,' I stumbled across an excellent site which is all of the above and more.... BUILD YOUR OWN is an excellent place for those who would like to attempt to either upgrade or build their first computer, and for those who commonly say they only know how to turn a computer on and nothing more. It is very well laid out, easy to navigate and covers even the simplest of terms. During reading, the user can study a variety of clips and pictures that show how to fit different peripherals with ease, and there are well highlighted "warning messages" throughout the guide that are well presented and easy to understand. The site also has an easy to read explanation pertaining to precautions before beginning such as electric shock, sharp edges, connections, handling and cleaning, and also dedicates a page on antistatic measures and why there is a need to implement these before building. Even if you don't wish to build a computer, this site can show you how to upgrade components yourself, and will save any new enthusiast a small fortune in the cost of hiring a technician to carry out simple procedures like adding or replacing a memory module (RAM). Instructions on how to install different operating systems are also included (including XP), and the site is a very good start to learning and understanding more about a computer and building up new-user confidence. In conjunction with building a computer, another excellent information resource is the UK COMPUTERS GUIDE -a vast directory of the best and most comprehensive UK computer sites on the Net. Whether you are looking for general computer sites, hardware or software retailers, the UK computers guide makes navigation of the UK computer market child's play saving you vital time and providing a hassle free way of locating exactly what you are looking for. The guide has comprehensive listings of hardware manufacturers and software publishers, and also contains listings of other useful sites for the general computer user and IT Professional, including: publications, training, search engines & directories, ISPs, downloads and domain names to assist you. Definitely one to bookmark, the guide shows many hardware retailers - some you may already know - but many you may not be aware of, and, coupled with a brief explanation of each retailer, the guide implements its own star rating to each individual site mentioned. Next week I will be covering well-adapted computer help sites that deal with both common and uncommon computer problems, a site which claims to have all the answers and 'tips and tweaks' resources for both novice and advanced users. Security: Vulnerability In Outlook When Used As An Email Editor When Outlook displays an HTML e-mail, it applies Internet Explorer security zone settings that disallow scripts from being run. However, if the user replies to or forwards a mail message and has selected Word as the email editor, Outlook opens the mail and puts the Word editor into a mode for creating email messages. Scripts are not blocked in this mode. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially malformed HTML email containing a script to an Outlook user who has Word enabled as the email editor. If the user replied to or forwarded the e-mail, the script would then run, and be capable of taking any action the user could take. The vulnerability only affects Outlook users who use Word as their email editor, and users who have enabled the feature introduced in Office XP SP1 to read HTML mail as plain text are not vulnerable. For an attacker to successfully exploit this vulnerability, the user would need to reply to or forward the malicious email. Simply reading it would not enable the scripts to run, and the user could delete the mail without risk. For more information, and to download the patch, please click HERE. BT Takes Part In E-Voting Trials For Local Elections Two sites, namely Evotesheffield.com and VoteEasyLiverpool.com have been developed in association with technology services firm election.com, and Julia Glidden, UK director at election.com said: “The pilots are unique in that they not only allow voters to vote online, but also through kiosks, on phones and by SMS. With text messaging, we are communicating with young voters through a medium they are particularly familiar with.” Parts of Crewe and Nantwich, St Albans and Swindon will also be piloting Internet voting from home, local libraries and council-run information kiosks, however, residents are only able to cast an online vote HERE between 9pm Friday 25 April and 9pm Saturday 27 April. As public participation in local elections has seen a decline over time, the trial is an attempt to test ways of voting electronically as e-democracy advocates believe Internet voting could encourage more people to take part. Source: Revolution Klez Virus Now Classed As 'Severe' W32.Klez.H@mm is a modified variant of the worm W32.Klez.E@mm, and is capable of spreading by email, local file and network shares, and also has the capability to infect files on a users system. According to statistics, Klez has been the most infectious virus throughout March, and figures already suggest the virus will stay as a number one threat throughout April. According to security firms, the virus may attempt to delete all files on a local drive on 13 September or 13 March. For more information, please click HERE. BT Power Failure Leaves Tens Of Thousands Without Phone Services According to reports, phones went dead around 6.30pm yesterday, affecting the Isle of Wight, Wiltshire and parts of Hampshire, and all services were restored just before 4.00am this morning. It was also reported that the people affected were unable dial any emergency 999 calls during the disruption. Source: The Register BT To Further Increase ADSL Coverage BT had halted its regional rollout last autumn saying it had reached the limits of commercially-viable exchanges, with 1,010 of BT's 6,100 exchanges upgraded. But with the financial assistance from local businesses, government agencies and the European Union to heavily subsidise the cost, BT will ADSL-enable local exchanges in a further ten UK regions. Chief executive Ben Verweyaan demanded that coalitions of business and government agencies put up similar totals to its Cornish ACT NOW project, where BT put up less than £2m of the projected £12.5m cost. Earlier this month BT made some concessions to criticisms that it had isolated 40 per cent of the country, when it promised to upgrade 100 more exchanges and consider the merits of 500 others. But even including these additions, the focus on urban areas means that a third of the population would be left uncovered for ADSL, with BT providing only expensive, or limited, satellite broadband services. In BT's regional roll-out tomorrow, some 3,300 businesses around Truro, St Austell, Redruth, Camborne, Newquay and Penzance are set to benefit. Depending on take-up, further exchanges at Falmouth, Bodmin, Launceston Saltash, Penryn, St Ives and Bude may be upgraded later in the year. Source: Vnunet.com Tiscali In Multimillion-Pound Marketing Campaign Tiscali will launch a high-profile series of ads across television, newspapers and magazines on May 1st. The company spent most of the last 18 months on a huge acquisition spree, buying up medium sized ISPs throughout Europe including Line One, LibertySurf and World Online in the UK. It now has a presence in 15 countries but remains virtually unknown in the UK, despite being the fourth largest ISP in the UK in terms of customer numbers. Here at Net4Nowt we constantly receive negative reviews for Tiscali’s Anytime unmetered service. The ISP should be concentrating on improving the service for existing customers instead of making the situation even worse by trying to attract more victims. Tiscali's co-founder, Mario Mariani, said the company was moving into a new phase in its development and was now looking to grow organically, having rebranded all its acquired sites under the Tiscali umbrella. "We spent the last 18 months putting the house in order and now we are ready to open the doors and invite people in," he said. Obviously the company is more interested in building on its branding in the ISP market instead of listening to its customers. Source: The Guardian Internet Paedophiles Arrested In Massive Police Raid A total of 75 addresses in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were searched and Police seized many computers believed to contain images of child abuse. Among those targeted were teachers, care workers and people working in the medical profession. Police used specially developed software to track web users by their IP address as they visited Internet chatrooms to exchange the shocking images. The crackdown, codenamed Operation Magenta, was part of a six-month investigation under the Protection of Children Act. It was led jointly by officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police. Detective Inspector Terry Jones of Greater Manchester Police, said the operation pinpointed 44 people across the UK with "interesting profiles". "These included some disturbingly young people including a 13-year-old, and a scoutmaster who we then discovered had been abusing a child for four years." Source: Ananova AOL Time Warner Announces £37bn Loss AOL Time Warner is a sprawling media giant, with interests ranging from cable channels like CNN to Time magazine and film studios making box office hits like Harry Potter. The write-down at AOL reflects the decline of the value of its holdings since the bursting of the dot.com bubble two years ago. AOL paid $106.2bn for Time Warner in 2000. While the America Online Internet business attracted 1.4 million members worldwide during the quarter, taking its total subscriber base to 34.6 million, the company was affected by weak advertising revenues. "The weakness of the Internet advertising business is still a challenge," said chief executive Doc Parsons, revealing it had division boss Bob Pittman would "tackle the issue directly". "Nobody knows more than Bob about marketing in the media business," Mr Parsons added. "He will build on America Online's powerful foundation to make sure it achieves its full potential as the strongest brand on the Internet." The firm had overall made "important progress" in areas such as broadband services and subscriber growth which would "drive the future growth of AOL Time Warner", Mr Parsons said. "Except for online advertising, the performance of our businesses remains at least as strong as we expected when we provided our earlier outlook." Source: BBC ADSL In Ireland Benefits From Lower Rental Fees Connection fees have risen from EUR125 to EUR165 ex. VAT, but monthly rental for Eircom's I-stream solo product for individual users is down to EUR89 from the EUR99 fee Eircom had proposed last autumn. That product was delayed following a challenge from Ireland's telecoms regulator, and the new retail prices were published on Tuesday following resolution of the dispute. Customers on the solo product will connect to the Net at 512kbit/s, or around 10 times faster than a normal dial-up modem, but they will be limited to three gigabytes of downloaded data each month. Eircom said it would charge EUR0.03 per megabyte over that limit. Extra charges also apply, including EUR145 for a special high-speed modem. Eircom has two other packages connecting to the Net at 1Mb/s: I-stream multi for up to four computers costs EUR139 monthly ex. VAT, with a download limit of six gigabytes; I-stream enhanced for a network of computers costs EUR169 monthly ex. VAT, with no limit on the data to be downloaded. I-stream multi users will also need a EUR270 Ethernet modem, while equipment fees will vary for I-stream enhanced customers. Eircom said customers can register interest for the product now, but the service will not be available until 14 May. Source: ElectricNews.net BT’s ‘No Frills’ Announcement Receives Mixed Reactions Known as BT Broadband, the bare bones service will be available to BT telephone customers as an extra on top of their existing line rental. There will be a monthly fee of £27 per month for direct debit billed customers. Others will be charged £28. The necessary modem and micro-filters pack will cost £80 from BT, although they can be obtained elsewhere. There is also a one-off connection charge of £60, which can be spread with the monthly direct debit facility available with the BT phone bill. All prices include VAT. But broadband rival Telewest has described the proposed service as 'no frills, no thrills' and attacks it for its high pricing. Telewest Broadband's head of Internet services Chad Raube said, "The general idea behind no-frills offers is to undercut a competitor that is offering a superior service, in the hope consumers will opt to save money by sacrificing quality. "BT has missed the point and will still charge more for a sub-standard ADSL service than you can pay for our own broadband experience." Net4Nowt also considers the £27 per month to be too high. Many ISPs already provide such a service along with many extras including email, web space and newsgroup access for much less. So what is the incentive of BT’s new product? Will we be bombarded in another mass marketing campaign when ISPs with a smaller marketing budget are being forced out of business? We would of thought that a price of around £17 per month would have been more realistic. So has the monthly price deliberately been set high so as not to attract the attention of Oftel? The broadband service isn’t without its restrictions. There will be a download limit of 1 gigabyte per day although BT have yet to say what will happen if the figure is exceeded. At this stage BT have said that there will be no penalty or charge for exceeding the limit. Ultimately there will be sooner or later, otherwise what is the point of having a limit? However 1GB is a substantial amount of data and for many Internet users it shouldn’t pose a problem. The new ‘no frills’ broadband product also does away with the need for users to subscribe to an ISP, which according to market analysts and industry experts could drive some ISPs out of business. Digital media analyst at Ovum, Dario Betti said, "BT Retail is playing with the definition of 'ISP'. It is the ISP here but it's separating access from content because it wants to change the way it charges customers. By doing so it will side-step a regulator that always tells them what to do and how to price things." Betti added, "While this offering isn't that bad for users in the short term, long term it will reduce competition in the ISP world. The £27 per month is only a few pounds less than ISPs like Freeserve charge, but that few pounds means a lot." BT has also said today that it plans to ink-up with AOL to sell its high-speed Net access. Opposition from some of the larger ISPs such as Freeserve was expected, but BT said it had started talks with U.S. giant AOL about forging a partnership. "We are talking as we speak to AOL to try to work the opportunity together... rather than fight," BT Retail CEO Pierre Danon told Reuters. "We have tried to talk to Freeserve, but they have decided that they would stop talking to us." Although Freeserve declined to comment immediately, it said it was looking at BT's plans. Sources: Silicon.com and Reuters Nildram Announces Home ADSL Price Cut Nildram’s Home500 Lite product includes email and web space, unlike BT’s no-frills service, and will cost £22.99 per month (inc VAT) from 1st May. Existing customers will benefit from the reduced price with effect from their next billing date after May 1st. Iain Ogilvie, Nildram's Marketing Manager commented, "We are seeing an upsurge of interest in Broadband ADSL services and we believe this price reduction will help stimulate the market further." Home500 Lite can be ordered via the Nildram ADSL specific web site at: www.getadsl.co.uk. Sonnet Launches Cut-Price Dedicated Business ADSL Following the announcement from BT in February regarding the reduction in cost for its broadband access, Sonnet Internet has slashed the price of its ADSL packages. Sonnet Internet's ADSL packages include the 'self-install' option, where customers can purchase a modem from recommended resellers through the portal, saving themselves money on the installation fee currently charged by BT. With self-install there is also no need to wait for an engineer to install a broadband modem. Sonnet Internet supplies broadband through the existing telephone line and the customer just plugs in their modem and splitter for access. Danny Sullivan, director of Sonnet Internet, commented, "Sonnet Internet has been committed to offering its customers cost effective, quality business applications from day one. Broadband is essential for today's small business user and hassle free, value for money access is long overdue. We are proud to be leading the way in offering this essential service at such a good price." The ADSL products encompass a range of packages, suitable for businesses with different needs, up to 2MB bandwidth for heavy users. All packages include a free domain name, up to 250Mb webspace and 500 email addresses. Source: ISPreview BT Reveals Details Of £27 ‘No Frills’ ADSL Service The new service strips out value-added services like email, free personal web space and content. Whilst it is the lowest price ADSL product, the basic service costs a lot more than we were expecting compared to 'feature packed' ADSL products from other ISPs. The 'no frills' DSL access product allows customers always-on high-speed direct access to the Internet over a single home phone line for just £27 a month if paying by direct debit. Other payment methods charged at £28 per month. A modem and micro-filters pack will cost £80 from BT, although they can be obtained elsewhere. There is also a one-off connection charge of £60, which can be spread with the monthly direct debit facility available with the BT phone bill. All prices include VAT. Called BT Broadband, the 'no-frills' Broadband product aims to generate 500,000 additional residential connections by Summer 2003, playing a critical role in helping meet the one million connections target set by BT Group chief executive, Ben Verwaayen. Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said, "From this autumn, residential customers will have a new, simpler alternative for surfing the internet on one phone line, while service and content providers will have a wider target market and a simpler, easier and more compelling route to generating revenue." BT Broadband will be widely available from autumn 2002 following extensive trials this Summer. BT Broadband is expected to generate £360 million a year in revenue for BT Retail by 2004/05. UPDATE: The ‘no frills’ service is also restricted with a daily download restriction of 1 gigabyte. BT may introduce further charges in the future for customers whose use exceed this figure. 08002go Re-Launch Unmetered Services Those interested will be able to select the service from April 29 2002 by clicking HERE and selecting the required package. The ISP claims that the re-launch is due current demand and the poularity of the service last year. BTopenworld Clinch Six New Marketing Deals The six companies involved are Rymans, Toys 'R' Us, Nationwide, Iceland, mmO2 and Northern Electric, and the deals will result in the distribution of over a quarter of a million broadband registration CDs via high-street and retail park outlets. According to BT, the move is a direct result of consumer demand for broadband high-speed services and each CD contains optional registration for BTopenworld's broadband and narrowband services, as well as a wealth of educational material about high-speed Internet access. In addition to the new deals, existing marketing partner HMV has increased orders of the registration CDs threefold for each of its stores and Chris Jones, head of distribution channels at BTopenworld said: "Broadband interest amongst consumers has been extremely encouraging, so we're moving quickly to ensure prospective customers can register as easily as possible." "These deals with popular high street names are helping us to increase our penetration as well as educating users on what broadband can do for them." Customers can also use the registration CD's to check for broadband availability in their area. Telewest Trial 1MB High-Speed Service In Scotland Up to 20 times the speed of conventional dial-up and twice as fast as existing 512k 'high-speed' services blueyonder 1Mb has a download speed of up to 1024kbps and an upload speed of up to 256kbps. Blueyonder is asking for help in order to provide the ultimate broadband Internet experience, as the company states: We want to trial the 1Mb service with 1,500 lucky blueyonder customers across Scotland. You must be an existing Telewest blueyonder broadband customer to take part, but there will be no extra charge for the duration of the trial. All that we ask for in return is your feedback. But hurry – places are limited, we can only offer it to the first 1,500 who respond… To find out further information, or, if you do not live in Scotland but would like to know more about the national launch of the 1Mb service, then click here for the main ad and further links are provided. Lawsuit Filed Against NTL Directors It is alleged that NTL mislead investors over the true financial state of the company for their own personal gain as a series of misrepresentations artificially inflated the price of the company's shares. The complaint alleges that the directors misled investors by failing to disclose that NTL was unable to effectively integrate its acquisitions, was not funded fully until 2003, would have to restructure its debt, was improperly delaying the write-down of impaired assets, and that the directors were under-reporting churn rates by failing to report terminations and by continuing to bill customers for accounts which they had brought to an end. It claims that the defendants "acted knowingly or in such a reckless manner as to constitute a fraud or deceit. Defendants were further motivated? because they owned millions of options to purchase shares of company stock and sought to artificially inflate the price of NTL shares for as long enough time as to allow them to capitalise on the exercise and sale of such options and stock." However, Knapp indicated, in a report in the Independent on Sunday, his eagerness to merge the company with cable operator Telewest once NTL's debt restructuring has been completed in July. It is also reported that Telewest could be preparing for the restructuring of its £5bn worth of debt before any merger can take place. Source: Netimperative Thomson Teams Up With Freeserve My Local Area - a section on the site - will enable users to register a particular location to find more detailed information on local entertainment events and a Search Nearby facility allows users to find local businesses in order of how close they are to a user’s home address. The deal will see ThomsonLocal.com's services integrated into the ISP for more than a year and Faiz Rehman, product manager at ThomsonLocal.com, said the site will improve on the existing ThomWeb.co.uk online business directory. Source: Revolution Virgin.Net Cuts Price Of Unmetered Package However, Virgin.net has not followed this recent trend, instead, the provider has recently reduced the price of its unmetered '24seven' access package from the fixed monthly fee of £15 to just £13.49 per month. The package promises users that they can "be online as often as you like for as long as you like, all for £13.49 a month," and there are no additional call charges for access. Virgin.net claims to have a contention ratio of 7:1, and the £13.49 subscription includes customer support, 5 free email addresses and 10MB of free webspace and a BT line is required to connect to the service. ISP Industry 'Angry' Over Spam Ruling The ruling will allow 'spamming' within the European Union, and it was also decided, by a majority vote, to leave the decision on whether or not to require commercial spammers to obtain prior permission from e-mail recipients to the member states themselves. However, the Internet service providers industry felt angry about the committee's position on spam and Jo McNamee, European affairs manager with EuroISPA said: "The amendments agreed in the committee take no account of convergence of technologies. Why should you need prior consent to send an SMS message to someone's mobile phone, but no prior consent to send an e-mail to the same phone?" "Legal certainty would require knowledge of 45 different laws around Europe. The idea the committee has come up with is ridiculously complicated legally." The vote of the Citizen's Rights Committee was welcomed however by Fedma, the lobbying group representing the direct marketing industry, who said in a statement that the committee "supported the development of the Internal Market for electronic communications in the EU." Source: CW360 Nominet Warns Of Confusing Domain Name Renewal Invoice The company has received reports of existing domain name holders (Registrants) receiving a demand for payment for 'the online connection of a web address', which could be interpreted to mean the domain name itself. Lesley Cowley, managing director of Nominet UK commented: "This appears to be a 21st century version of the confusing fax directory invoice. Those contacted should treat the demand with the same caution as they would any other unsolicited invoice and, if unsure, contact their Internet Service Provider for clarification." Most domain names ending .uk are registered through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and need to be renewed every two years. In the first instance, Nominet sends the renewal invoice to the ISP, who should contact the Registrant for payment. If, for any reason, the ISP does not renew the registration, Nominet tries to contact the Registrant directly to offer them the opportunity to renew the registration. The wording on the invoice is confusing as many people think that unless they pay the demand they will lose their domain names, when the fee is actually for inclusion in a Web directory - namely, Central Web Pages Register Ltd who are based in London. Nominet recommended that users should contact their ISP or Nominet's customer support team on 01865 332211 for clarification, or see the web site at Nominet.org Genie Customers Experience Email Difficulties A number of readers have contacted us recently to complain that they are unable to retrieve important emails for weeks without any success. As pointed out by one of our regular readers, Danny, it is possible to access email using Outlook for example using the server mail.u.genie.co.uk and the email address as the username. There are also many disgruntled customers in the newsgroups that are also unhappy with the recent changes with the ISP: “Genie the arm of BT Mobile, or Cellnet, or mmo2, or whatever they're called this week. Genie the tight fisted ones who have 'removed' unlimited sms messaging from their mobile customers. Genie who have a really, really poor website. Genie who have the worst customer relations and support model ever seen in [the] industry.” Earlier this month Genie was also criticised on BBC's Watchdog programme for reducing their unlimited SMS to 600 free messages per month. Mozilla Finally Reaches Candidate 1 Release The open-source web browser was originally started as a project by Netscape to be version 5 of its browser. The only problem is that there's very little up for grabs in the browser market: Internet Explorer owns most of the space and the rest was picked up by Netscape. After four years of delays and slow progress it remains to be seen whether Mozilla, designed for standards compliance, performance and portability, can be a contender. More info and the release candidate can be found at Mozilla.org. Source: Vnunet.com Unmetered ISP Broadens Choice In Dual ISDN Market Within the next week Gio Internet plan to launch their new dual-channel ISDN service. Their prices will be: Gio IgniteLast month Vispa launched their Connect Anytime Plus service which offers 128K access for £29.95 per month. Source: ISPreview 'Fujitsu Giltches' Disrupting BT DSL Services A spokeswoman claimed that the matter would be resolved in a couple of weeks and added: “If there’s a fault, the line cards are immediately reset, a lot of customers will therefore never know an error was there. Specifically, it appears that these line cards are intermittently failing to recognise some USB modems.” Standford also wrote that the second generation glitches affect some types of USB modems, and will cause delays for new orders and problems for some existing ones, and, as a result, ISPs are being advised to wait until May before installing any new orders. Meanwhile, ADSL guide reports that Eclipse Internet have integrated new data that BT Wholesale released yesterday into their ADSL availability checker that will allow users to know whether their exchange has any Fujitsu DSL hardware in it. Users can access the checker HERE and find out if their exchange is affected by simply entering their phone number. Those connected to an affected exchange will see the following message: Your line is currently connected to an exchange that BT are experiencing short term problems with. BT expect this problem to be resolved at the beginning of May 2002. If you require ADSL on this line we recommend you request an installation date in May 2002. Please note this problem is affecting all ADSL Providers and not just Eclipse Internet. Affected exchanges/connections show the standard message of 'Your line will typically take 10 working days to install from the date we accept your order.' A permanent solution to resolve the situation is expected in early May. Source: ADSL Guide/Internet Magazine European Internet Use Continues To Grow Based on European Internet use measured at 19 per cent of the population in 1999, and 39 per cent (119 million people) in 2001, the report found that more than 30 million new regular users in France (68 per cent), and Italy (64 per cent), are expected to be online over the next five years. Forrester Analyst Reineke Reitsma said: "Online access has taken a real leap forward in Europe in the past couple of years. In 1999, only 19 per cent of European consumers aged 16 or older regularly accessed the Net via a PC. By 2001, this number had doubled to 39 per cent or 116 million consumers -- outperforming Forrester's earlier predictions." "Driven by a need to communicate and falling hardware and connection prices, the number of online users will grow from 39 percent to 67 percent in the next five years -- resulting in more than 200 million regular online users by the end of 2006." It was also reported that most European surfers connect from Germany or the UK, with 30 million and 20 million users respectively, and with 50 per cent of 119 million European users aged 35 or younger it was concluded that the Internet is still a medium for well-educated young people. M1dial.co.uk Unmetered Internet Access From M1Radio Named M1dial.co.uk, the ISP states that it aims to get subscribers connected first time with an 'impressive 8 to 1 maximum modem ratio,' and also offers free technical support via email. When the three months offer has ended, subscribers can choose to stay on the unmetered package for £12.95 per month. M1dial.co.uk also offer a pay as you go package. For more information, please click HERE Gio Internet Plans To Cut The Cost Of Unmetered Access Already deemed the cheapest unmetered provider in the UK with their £7.99 a month unmetered 24/7 package, Gio are planning to charge just £6.99 for the same package due to a 'record number of sign-ups' over the past week. The ISP states that it may take 'a few weeks to finalise the changes,' but plans are well on the way to reduce costs although the price change is for existing customers only. There is also a banner on the site stating that prices for unmetered 24/7 access could drop as low as only £4.99 per month depending on the number of subscribers: The only ISP to provide UNMETERED and UNLIMITED 24/7 Internet access for only £7.99. The more users we have the lower our monthly fee will be, so click here to tell your friends about Gio Internet and soon you may be paying only £4.99 for unmetered Internet! All Home Packages Include email addresses, webspace, newsgroups, tech support (Nat, rate), unlimited surfing and support for 64k ISDN - click HERE for more information. New Broadband Opportunity for Groups of 100 Businesses "Fed up with the state of UK Broadband? Do something about it! If you want Broadband - we'll bring it 2 you!! The UK Broadband Challenge from Tele2 is looking for Area Co-ordinators for a unique venture - get 100 customers within a 15km radius to commit to a Tele2 tariff and we'll expand the network to your area... Bringing Broadband 2 you! THE EASY FIVE STEPS TO GETTING BROADBAND ACCESS (1) Get 100 people to each sign a pledge order form (2) Make application by way of our "We've Got A Hundred" button, that connects you directly to the CEO of Tele2 UK. (3) Having received your application, Tele2 will conduct a site survey and mini-study of the town/area in question (4) Tele2 will establish a base station transmitter site with legal access (5) The big "Switch-On"!! " UK’s Lowest-Priced ADSL Set To Launch Finally breaking the £20 price barrier at £19.99 per month, the self-install service will offer home users a 512Kbps permanent broadband connection to the Internet. There is also a one-off activation fee of £55 +vat. The V21 service offers a standard contention ratio of 50:1 [although there was a mix-up in the press release stating 1:1 which probably refers to the 1:1 availability meaning you can always connect to the service], with pricing for Home Surf 1Mb and 2Mb expected to be released within the next few weeks along with a service aimed at businesses. Pre-registrations for the service are now being taken at the site with orders being accepted from July. ADSL In Ireland Given The Green Light After more than six months in regulatory limbo, Eircom said on Wednesday that its broadband Internet service will finally launch following an agreement with the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR) on the wholesale prices which will apply to other Licensed Operators in Ireland and Eircom's retail business. Eircom's service was originally set to launch in September 2001 but within days of the official roll out of the product, the ODTR held up the service, claiming that the company's wholesale rate was too high. Originally Eircom wanted to charge a one-time activation fee of EUR125. The monthly consumer rental for a single connection was EUR99 and wholesale rental was EUR75 for the 512kb/s service. After months of negotiation with the ODTR and other telecoms, Eircom has now agreed to launch the service at a much lower wholesale monthly cost of EUR49. But the once-off connection cost has gone up to EUR350. For a 1Mb/s connection, Eircom will charge other operators EUR79 per month with a connection fee of EUR350. "We are very pleased to have found a solution that is workable both from our perspective and from the ODTR's perspective," explained Majella Fitzpatrick, public relations manager with Eircom. Fitzpatrick said that prices for its i-stream retail DSL product would be announced next week. Lobby group IrelandOffline has also welcomed the decision. "Our members are encouraged to hear that ADSL is only a matter of days and weeks away now," said IrelandOffline Chairman, David Long, "and we are relieved that the parties have finally come up with a technical solution to the bitstream standoff, and one that appears to resolve the uncertainty involved in Local Loop Unbundling. There is still a lot of work to do, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. We hope that the ODTR, Eircom and the Other Licensed Operators (OLO's) will continue to work towards our primary goal of affordable Internet access for all." Source: ElectricNews.net Net Security: New Klez Worm Variant Found To gain entry to a computer the worm exploits a vulnerability in the Internet Explorer security system (the IFRAME vulnerability). Due to this Klez is able to imperceptibly infect computers immediately after the infected message is read. The worm propagates itself by sending virus copies to addresses from a computer's address book, and the worm is programmed to overwrite several file types, including Word and Excel documents and pictures and videos. To remove the threat of infection from the Klez.h worm and any other modification of this worm, KASPERSKY recommends that THIS patch for Internet Explorer should be installed. Sandblad Reminds MS Of IE Backbutton Vulnerability IE allows urls containing the javascript protocol in the history list. Code injected in the url will operate in the same zone/domain as the last URL viewed. The javascript url can be set to trigger when a user presses the backbutton. The normal behaviour when a page fails to load is to press the backbutton. The error page shown by IE is operating in the local computer zone (res://C:\WINNT\System32\shdoclc.dll/dnserror.htm# on Win2000). Thus, we can execute code and read local files. Sandblad has created a little script to further demonstrate the danger, and first notified Microsoft about the vulnerability back in November 2001, and again on 25 march 2002. As no 'IE fix' has yet been released, Sandblad suggests the workaround is to disable active scripting in IE settings or NEVER use the backbutton. To read the recent posting by Sandblad at Security Focus Online, please click HERE Unmetered Service Rises From The Dead If having no Internet access for 2 months isn’t bad enough, in an email to its customers Sniff Out has announced that it has raised the price of its TimeOut and SmartTime packages by £1. The ISP has a history of cutting off its customers without warning. In March 2001 the ISP ceased its SurfTime Internet access after a contractual dispute with BT leaving its customers in the lurch. Then in February 2002 the connection went dead without any explanation. Just how many customers will go back for another try is anybody’s guess. We just hope bad luck doesn’t come in threes. Oftel Head In Broadband Competition Speech David Edmunds began his speech with some interesting broadband facts before laying out what Oftel is doing and where it is going in relation to broadband competition in the UK. Edmunds said that there are now over 180,000 consumers who use ADSL, while there are also an additional 280,000 cable users. Since the launch of broadband some 18 months ago, we are rapidly approaching half a million UK consumers signing up for high-speed services. In his speech Edmunds stated that the rate of take-up in the UK compares well to other countries. For example, current UK take up rates are comparable to France, despite the fact that both cable modem and DSL services were launched earlier in France. “I am confident that growth will continue. The industry will develop innovative content and services, attracting more consumers to broadband.” Edmunds said in his speech. The speech also went on to layout Oftel’s broadband objectives: a) effective and sustainable competition in the provision of broadband access and services with no operators having significant market power in broadband markets;The full text of the speech can be found here. Bridge Broadband To Compete With BT’s Satellite Service The service, aimed at ISPs targeting residential and home office Internet users unable to receive ADSL, uses a dish to pick up signals at around 400kbps and the user’s normal telephone line to send out information, in a similar model to that adopted by BT Wholesale’s new service for ISPs announced on Monday. While BT will charge ISPs £400 per installation and less than £15 for monthly wholesale fees – meaning that users will probably be asked for between £20 and £30 per month - Bridge Broadband said that it will also charge around £400 for installation plus a monthly service charge of about £50, including unlimited return path calls. The company, which is owned by Flexia, said it would make the new service available to ISPs from the end of June across the UK, unlike BT's offering which will be on trial with ISPs for the next six months with the view to rolling it out across mainland Britain if it proves to be a success. Flexia's communications director John Dean said that the company was "working on a number of negotiations with ISPs". Source: netimperative.com New Unmetered Provider Emerges With many Internet users still waiting for their telephone exchange to be ADSL enabled, the standard dial-up connection is the only cost effective solution for regular users. So with Affinity Internet Holdings as a partner, 1066ad.com has come up with a range of accounts to fill the needs of such Internet users: Maxi SurfThere is also a pay-as-you-surf account available for less-frequent users. All unmetered packages are FRIACO-based so they are only suited to BT customers. The accounts are subject to a minimum 3-month contract and payment methods also include direct debit. The popularity of unmetered packages in the UK questions whether the "demand" for broadband is consumer or industry driven.1066ad.com’s statistics show that customers in the UK seem generally satisfied with unmetered access. Founder Tom Wilson, states, "As a customer-focussed provider 1066ad.com want to see how the broadband market evolves. Any future decisions about broadband will be made in consultation with our branding partner Affinity Internet Holdings (AIH) who are the backbone to the provision of our unmetered service". Kids Lose Patience With The Net A study by the US design think tank, the Neilsen Norman Group (NNG), observed children using a wide range of websites. It found that the bells and whistles often used on sites designed for kids do not necessarily impress. "Our study convinced us that most websites for children are built upon pure folklore about how kids supposedly behave," said web design guru Jakob Nielsen from NNG. "While it is true that kids love whizz bang animation and sound effects, even these things won't hold their attention if they come upon something too difficult to figure out or they get lost on a website." Source: BBC AOL Dumps Microsoft In Favour Of Netscape Instead, the default browser for CompuServe 7 will be Netscape’s Gecko browser. Netscape Gecko is a small, speedy, standards-compliant, open source embeddable browser engine, which has been developed in an open environment via mozilla.org by Netscape and other developers. For many years AOL used the Internet Explorer browser as its default in exchange for Microsoft bundling AOL with its Windows software. AOL has said that the decision was taken as a result of consumer feedback, although many in the industry believe there are other reasons behind the decision. BT Takes A Gamble With Online Betting BTopenworld’s new service called 'Sport & Bets' will focus on sports betting, lotteries and bingo and casinos. UKbetting.com, which recently acquired leading sports sites Sporting Life and Sportal, has been selected as BT’s sports betting partner. As well as a full online bookmaking service, they will also provide daily sports news, previews and reports, live scoring and the UK's most comprehensive betting news service covering the full range of sports, including US sports. The huge popularity of bingo in the UK, particularly among female punters, has resulted in a tie-up with bingo giant The Rank Group Plc to offer Rank.com branded bingo, keno, dice and fruit machine style wagers. These will form an important part of the new BTopenworld betting offering. The fourth and final core area of lotteries will encompass a free daily lotto, a lottery newsletter and National Lottery results online and via SMS. Alison Ritchie, CEO BTopenworld, said, "Betting, games and music are accepted as being the three biggest mass-market subscription revenue generators online outside of adult services. We have already established leading games and music destination sites in the UK, and we will soon have an unrivalled offering as an ISP across all three categories." The new sport portal can be found at www.btopenworld/sport. Business Cybercrime Doubled According To Survey Despite the escalating threat from such web-based security problems, the survey found that businesses are not spending or doing enough to protect themselves from harm. The report puts the average cost of each serious security breach at £30,000. The most serious incidents could cost up to £500,000 to fix and take days to repair the damage. The 2002 DTI Information Security Breaches survey found that 44% of all businesses questioned have suffered a malicious security incident or breach in 2001, almost double the 24% who reported suffering breaches in 2000. Source: BBC Argentinian Judge Rules Hacking Is Not Illegal The ruling was delivered following the trial of a group of people - calling themselves the X-Team - hacked into the web site of the Supreme Court and modified the content within. The group on trial was declared not guilty of breaking into the web site. Argentinian court rulings do not set legal precedent and so another judge could issue a different ruling in a new, similar case. This was reportedly the first case concerning computer hacking in Argentina. Freeserve Reveals Its Broadband Special Offer Until the end of May, the biggest UK ISP is offering full connection to its broadband service for £84.99 (including the cost of the modem, splitter and software) and monthly payments of £29.99 per month. Thus Could Launch Leased-Line Quality DSL By The End Of This Year Called DataStream, the new high-speed product will hopefully offer ultra-low contention ratios together with an improved quality over current DSL offerings, as the company claims that its backbone is capable of providing 1.9 Terabits per second. A combined agreement by Thus, Colt and Energis with BT allows the new technology to take place, and Thus have suggested that the cost will not be much different to the present pricing structures. The Vnunet report also said: DataStream is effectively an ATM connection to the customer. So rather than using IP over Ethernet, ATM is used throughout to get data across the network. The technology allows DSL traffic to be picked up from different points in BT's network, so an operator with its own infrastructure does not need to lease infrastructure from BT. Communication providers pick up DSL traffic at BT's regional exchanges, which usually also contain an ATM node - or connection point to BT's ATM network - eliminating the need for the operator to buy STM-1 connections. The ATM level interconnect will also allow an operator to increase the number of interconnect points to BT's network, as there are around 80 of these exchanges in the UK. Thus, Colt and Energis operate networks that link to a large proportion of these exchanges. This gives communications providers a lot more flexibility in terms of the services they can offer, such as better contention ratios. The technical trials for DataStream are scheduled to finish this summer according to the report, and it is hoped that the new high-speed product can be launched towards the end of this year. Source: Vnunet Suppliers Find It Difficult To Cope With Broadband Demand Vnunet reports that retailers such as PC World claim they are "being swamped with phone calls," and, according to suppliers, the increase in demand for self-install kits is causing shortages of the necessary microfilters required for the self-conversion to broadband. BT are also reported as being taken by surprise with the overall demand, as Vnunet.com have received complaints that the telco's site that gives users information if their exchange is ADSL capable is 'frequently' overloaded. Seems like Broadband Britian could happen after all, providing, that is, that suppliers can meet the demand produced from price-cuts and self-install kits ...? Source Vnunet BT Wholesale To Trial High-Speed Satellite Internet According to the announcement, if the service is successful, it could be made available throughout the UK including rural areas beyond the reach of DSLbroadband and cable, and Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: "This is an exciting development capable of delivering the benefits of fast, 'always-on', Internet downloading right across the UK." "It is not true broadband, but it will give much faster Internet access to many people who could otherwise be denied." "We believe this will be a valuable, additional way of providing fast Internet to areas beyond the reach of conventional broadband and shows we are pushing forward on many fronts with simple, competitive solutions for customers." The service will download via a 65cm receive-only satellite dish at speeds of up to 256 kbit/s and will also provide 'always-on' satellite downstream delivery of emails and selected Internet pages, the return path operating from a conventional phone line. The satellite high speed Internet access trial will start in late May, and are scheduled to last for six months, and the trial wholesale price is likely to be less than £15 a month rental to service providers with a one-off connection charge. For the end-user, equipment and installation of the dish is expected to be less than £400, and the service charge will be set by the service providers. It is anticipated that download speeds of up to 256kbit/s and 'always-on' downloading of emails and selected Internet pages will be inclusive in the monthly rental fee, and free of usage charge. Currently more than 70 per cent of Internet users in the UK are connected to 1010 BT exchanges which have been enabled for ADSL broadband, and a further 100 exchanges are to be enabled as reported earlier. BSkyB Plans To Launch Broadband Interactive Services The news report suggests that the company are close to launching a set-top box adapter that will offer subscribers high-speed interactive services via their phone line, and this is considered an advantageous move for BSkyB as rival cable companies such as NTL and Telewest are currently struggling with debt: On top of generating money from the new interactive services, BSkyB would be able to take a slice of broadband Internet revenues from telecoms companies. Mr Wilson calculates that on a £25-a-month BT broadband Internet connection, BSkyB could collect £6 in its share of revenues. This would help BSkyB meet its target of generating an average revenue per user of £400 by 2005.At the end of last year it revealed that the figure was £331. Mr Wilson calculates that if just 20 per cent of BSkyB's customer base takes the broadband connection this would increase its average revenue per user by £12. It is understood that BSkyB chief executive Tony Ball gave senior institutional fund managers a demonstration of the technology last week. Source: Independent BT Signs Up Microsoft In Broadband Homeworker Launch BT believes the home working market alone could add £70m to its annual revenues within the next few years. Under the terms of the latest deal BT will connect 1,500 Microsoft homeworkers, based all over the country, via secure broadband links to the company's main network. BT is also upgrading all of its own 5,500 homeworkers to the new service. The group expects to save up to £1m for every thousand workers it switches from existing ISDN fast links to the much speedier broadband connections. Pierre Danon, the head of BT retail, is planning a detailed launch of his broadband strategy in 10 days' time, including a series of alliances with Internet content providers. BT is aiming to have 1m broadband connections in place by March next year and 5m by 2006, compared with about 150,000 today. Source: Sunday Telegraph Art For Arts Sake! The first program allows you to create 3D models of real-world objects and scenes through the use of your photo's, and will show you the art of photogrammetry- the science of extracting data from photographs. PhotoModeler Lite is a fully functional, high-quality Windows freeware program for creating 3D models from photos complete with points, lines, surfaces, and phototextures mapped on right from your photos! PhotoModeler Lite is based on a powerful and flexible tool - photogrammetry- although many people are not familiar with its capabilities. PhotoModeler Lite offers a no-cost, no-risk way to evaluate and learn the power of photogrammetry. You can use PhotoModeler Lite to experiment with modelling and measuring real-world objects and scenes in applications such as: graphics / animation, web / VRML, accident reconstruction / forensics, architecture / preservation, archaeology, and engineering / piping. To learn more about PhotoModeler Lite and download the program, please click HERE, and don't forget to download the Ferrari and Building Architecture Tutorials! The next download is a small yet flexible program that is used for creating 3D elements for websites and software interfaces. With ZPaint you can easily paint raised or lowered shapes such as buttons, rings, boxes, or add those effects to existing graphics. Colour/texture selection, adjustable extrusion depth, gloss and other effects are available, and the program works at its best in co-operation with an image editor. Totally freeware and you can download ZPaint HERE P.S. There is also a nifty little computer board game of Tic Tac Toe available on the site too, along with 'Lady in Black' - a CD Player with CD archive function, and 'Scanner', a media usage visualisation tool - all for free! For the more adventurous user who wishes to explore interactive 3D graphics and develop interesting 3D environments, there is the 'Alice' authoring tool - a '3D Interactive Graphics Programming Environment for Windows 95/98/NT' built by the Stage 3 Research Group at Carnegie Mellon University. The Alice project is a public service to the wider computing and artistic communities and the current version of Alice authoring tool is free to everyone. Worlds created in Alice can be viewed and interacted with inside of a standard web browser once the Alice plug-in has been installed. Alice is primarily a scripting and prototyping environment for 3D object behaviour, not a 3D modeler and the core distribution includes a large library of textured models. By writing simple scripts, Alice users can control object appearance and behaviour, and while the scripts are executing, objects respond to user input via mouse and keyboard. Although Alice is not a 3D modelling program, it does read many common 3D file formats including .DXF and .OBJ formats and objects can be converted to Alice format from .3DS format using a special 3D Studio Max plug-in. You can read some interesting reviews of Alice HERE, and to learn more about the project and download Alice, please click HERE. Another great image creation and editing software tool to consider is PhotoPlus 5 which is available as a fully functional FREE version from Serif. PhotoPlus is great for working with photographs and paint type images, whether for the Web, multimedia, or the printed page. Once you´ve got your image into PhotoPlus, you can enhance and alter its on screen appearance with a diverse toolkit of functions and effects. Choose from a panoply of fully adjustable filled shapes to produce chevrons, hearts, badges, teardrops, moons, zigzags, and many more. Just drag sliders to control each shape´s appearance! You can find out more and download the program HERE ***Due to the high demand of this program the GIF and TIF file format support is now disabled in FREE version due to costs, but can be enabled for a nominal charge of only $1 *** Also consider the very flexible IrfanView - One of the handiest freeware programs around, this multimedia and graphics viewer can handle any type of file from GIFs to Real Audio to MP3 to Adobe Photoshop files, and many more. Thumbnails, Preview, Drag & Drop Support, fast Directory View (fast moving through directory), Print Support, Scan (TWAIN) Support, Slideshow, Batch conversion, change the colour depth, audio CD player, Capturing, Cut/Crop, Effects (Blur, Sharpen, etc.) and many more. If you haven't already got Irfanview, click HERE to download now... ...And finally, 'Digital Camera Enhancer' (DCE) does the hard job of noise reducing and automatic balance control for you and it is completely free! The program works best if you have bad light condition (indoor, shadows etc..) and your image is somehow off, so if some of your images are already fine, you won't see much difference. DCEnhancer makes very delicate changes...One thing makes DCE different from other tools - reducing the noise and skin smoothing algorithm. It makes DCE ideal for making cool portraits and close-ups. For further reading and to download, please click HERE Please note, due to time limitations, only some of the above programs have been fully tested but are highly recommended. As always, users are urged to read all pertaining licence agreements before accepting installation on any system. That's it for this week, and don't forget, if you have a link to a great freeware program, please email me at Sarah@net4nowt.com with a brief description and appropriate link. NTL Buys Protest Site After The Register reported how NTHellworld.com founder, Frank Whitestone, had taken a job at NTL to set up a new site for the company, a message was posted on the NTHellworld.com site announcing details of the sale, which reads: Important information - the future of http://www.nthellworld.com The future of NTHW is secure. NTHW remains a forum for the good and the not so good parts of being an NTL customer. But NTHW has a new owner. NTHW is now owned by NTL. So why is this good news? 1. The editorial policy remains unchanged. If it’s legal, it appears. 2. Being embraced by the company, NTHW will now make a genuine diff | ||