Infotrade

The UK government's approach  to the refreshed EU cookie laws has been labelled a "mockery" and "useless" by one critic. Others have warned the laws could have a severe impact on consumers’ browsing habits.  The criticism comes as the government prepares to put the legislation into force. Users will have to give their permission for websites to install cookies through their internet browsers. Previously the rule on using cookies for storing information was that companies had to tell people how you use cookies, and tell them how they could ‘opt out’ if they objected.  Communications minister Ed Vaizey has said that the government will work with browser manufacturers to ensure users are able to give permissions for cookies on an ongoing basis.  However, it seems as though the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has been given an easy ride, with Vaizy admitting it is unlikely that it could take enforcement action in the short-term against businesses and or...

O2 ,  Vodafone  and 3  have been labelled amongst the best for offering faster average mobile broadband download speeds.  However, T Mobile and Orange were found to be trailing behind in Ofcom's first  research into the performance of mobile broadband across the UK, while the overall findings regarding this technology have been described by experts as "disappointing." The watchdog found that around 17 percent of us in the UK are using mobile broadband through a dongle, seven percent of which rely on this medium as their only access to the net, compared to the three percent in 2009.  However, the regulator did more than survey people, also testing around 4.2 million lines to get a measure of average speeds as well as to get an idea of what which areas were given better 3G coverage than others by the five mobile operators.  In cahoots with Epitiro, Ofcom found that the average download speed achieved by consumers in Ofcom’s consumer panel survey was 1.5...

After saying for a while  that it had not bought  McAfee  to embed security features into its chips,  Intel  is now hinting that it will do just that. For a while many wondered what Intel was smoking when it bought security outfit McAfee. The logical reason was that it wanted embedded security at the chip level. McAfee and Intel denied this and said the purchase was for other reasons. One of the best reasons was Intel's cloud plans which would require some form of security and anti-virus protection.  Security on a chip, nah guv. Not us. Intel South Asia's R Ravichandran, director of sales, has told the press that the outfit is preparing a roadmap to integrate security features into the chip. Intel already has anti-theft feature available through some of its original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) which will disable the laptop the first time it is connected to the internet after reporting the theft, he said. The idea is that it will stop people being able t...

Baidu  intends  to push into foreign markets in a bid to become the number one search engine. Senior vice president Shen Haoyu told a technology forum in Beijing that the firm is eyeing up foreign markets as a way of driving growth. He claims that “a lot of the company's growth in the next 10 years will come from overseas expansion," as part of its “global aspirations”. Baidu has already created a Japanese language search engine and is now mulling over which markets to attempt to move into next. It's already setting up a multi-language platform in anticipation of further developments. It has already been  suggested that Baidu has been talking to Facebook  and that is likely to put its main competitor both at home and abroad,  Google , on the back foot. Furthermore  Microsoft  is  thought to be cosying up to Baidu , which could be the beginnings of a threat to Google's hegemony on a larger scale. However, according to  AFP,  Google, whic...

Skype  appears  to have suffered a significant and bizarre crash, with users worldwide reporting problems on  Twitter . Not long after the company has announced a major deal with  Microsoft  it has become victim to unspecified problems, with some reports of the programme shutting down with a Windows error message. Twitter is now seeing floods of angry messages by users who have been booted of the system and are now unable to login or even start up the Skype programme itself. An error message appears on Skype and users are not able to even get to the next log-in screen. Much of the vitriol is aimed at Microsoft, with one user tweeting: “Major worldwide Skype crash, thanks Microsoft!”. We have no idea what the problem is. But Skype has suffered from unexplained outages before. Our C. Shanti reports from  December last year . Skype is also leaving behind Asterisk, with a letter circulated that the contract with Digium, the firm behind Asterisk, has now been t...

These days it is rare  to find someone who doesn't rely on a smartphone or some kind of handheld device and a slew of mobile apps to stay productive at work, on the road or even in their home. There are so many mobile electronic gadgets on the market, including the popular iPhone ,  Palm Pre ,  BlackBerry Bold ,  iPad  and  Android tablet. Let's face it. Mobile devices have drastically shifted the online landscape to the point that in 2010 more than 50 percent of all Internet access was being done via handhelds of some sort. About 45 percent of mobile owners are using their devices to download social networking apps. In fact, 35 percent of Android and iPhone owners in the  U.S.  use apps such as  Facebook before getting out of bed, according to a recent survey conducted by telecommunications equipment vendor Ericsson . What's more, reports by  Forrester Research  show that heavy app users are also heavy mobile Web users. The ma...

Luckily, I happen to be an Xbox fan and didn’t have to worry about my identity being stolen. Playstation really screwed up and their customers are not happy campers. I hope Sony has learned their lesson about digital security and will not let it happen again. [ Via ]

Communications regulator  Ofcom  has banned three-year mobile phone and broadband contracts in the UK, with the maximum length of contract now set at two years. This is good news for consumers, who may otherwise have been lured into signing 36-month contracts, with the promise of one of the market’s top smartphones with less money to pay each month. But in such a fast-moving market, three years is a long time and smartphones can become obsolete in as little as a year. Longer contracts also prevent customers from switching to other providers who may introduce more economical deals. And for those averse to signing any lengthy contracts, Ofcom also announced that 12-month contracts must be offered by networks, which will now bring the UK in line with EU regulations. Whilst it’s still possible to find 12-month contracts if you shop around, the minimum advertised term is typically 18-months, with operators keen to get customers signed up to 24-months at least. Of course, other opt...

Thursday, in a move that puts them in direct competition to Apple’s Mac Store, Amazon announced the  Mac Download Store .  The Loop  reports that the store has 250 of the ‘biggest software and game titles available for Mac. They point out that they even have some titles that Apple’s store does not. One of the biggest examples of this is Microsoft Office, which is not available from Apple’s store, but is on the Mac Download Store from Amazon. The Mac Download Store is separated into two discrete sections; Software and Video Games. Many of these titles were available previously in the  Amazon Software Downloads Store  but have now been placed in the discreet Mac Download Store. Amazon touts the install process, which sounds pretty much identical to the way that the Mac Store works. It seems as if apps are downloaded directly to the desktop instead of the dock, as occurs with purchases from the Mac App Store. Mac Download store features an install-less download pr...

Once upon a time, search engine optimization (SEO) was the number one tool for  optimizing  your visibility and business on the Internet. Now it’s all about “social media optimization” (SMO). Brands know they have to be social in order to be “loved,” and visible (with hopefully as many followers as Lady Gaga). The irony is that a social media strategy is much simpler to implement than you might think. Social Media Optimization  was first used in 2006 by  Rohit Bhargava , an influential marketer at Ogilvy, who explained why the SMO rules have now changed at this year’s  Social Media Optimization Conference . The five rules  are: 1. Create shareable content 2. Make sharing easy 3. Reward engagement 4. Proactively share content 5. Encourage the mashup The rules have changed because we are returning to what  Brian Solis , author of the acclaimed  book on social media and business,  Engage! , and principal at Altimeter Group , loves to ...