http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin Offtopic News galore in this forum, only staff can start threads but anyone can reply. Check out the DCEmu Blog en Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:13:42 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/images/jnj/misc/rss.jpg http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223468&goto=newpost Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:07:09 GMT New videos showing off those new queue monitor videos I mentioned earlier this week have now been put up on YouTube. This one mentions the following artists: The Crystal Method, Beastie Boys, Marrs, Shiny Toy Guns, Daft Punk and ZZ... New videos showing off those new queue monitor videos I mentioned earlier this week have now been put up on YouTube. This one mentions the following artists: The Crystal Method, Beastie Boys, Marrs, Shiny Toy Guns, Daft Punk and ZZ Top.



http://www.screamscape.com/html/univ...os_florida.htm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223468 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223207&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:44:55 GMT The chair of the European Game Developers Federation has said that determining which development projects should be given tax breaks off the back of a cultural test is a flawed system.

France's tax breaks were given the go ahead at the end of 2007, and like a proposed system for the UK, rely on passing a test to determine if they are culturally significant.

"The cultural test is a problem," said Guillaume de Fondaumiere, who is also co-CEO of Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream.

"It's definitely a problem, and when I negotiated both with the French government and the European Commission I had to give in on a number of criteria - because state aids are only allowed under EU law under the famous cultural exception.

"When you look at EU rules, you have to ask: 'Actually, what is culture?' It's a national decision, so it's kind of weird that we, as the videogame industry, have to work with standards that other cultural areas don't have to follow."

The UK's Digital Britain report has prompted the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to ask the UK industry for evidence for a culturally-based tax break for the sector, but de Fondaumiere is concerned that by the time its accepted that videogames have cultural relevance, it could be too late for a weakening European development community.

"To me, all games are cultural. Videogames aren't just a form of entertainment, but a true form of cultural expression, and I think that in twenty years' time this will be a given. No one will dispute that any more.

"So we've got a rocky twenty years in front of us, and we have to make sure this recognition doesn't happen when we no longer have an industry in Europe."

de Fondaumiere also points to Canadian evidence that investment in tax breaks is not dead money, are are vital to stimulating business.

"We know that tax breaks are extremely effective in stimulating an industry, and I think again that Montreal and Quebec have shown us the way. If you listen to representatives of Invest in Quebec, they'll tell you that they've invested hundreds of million of dollars in the industry. I think the last time I was presented the numbers they'd invested CAD 400 million, with a return on that investment of CAD 600 million.

"So I think it's high time for governments, and the EU, to understand that money given in the form of tax breaks to the industry is not money thrown away. It's an investment with a very high return, so it's time that we had those breaks."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...a-problem-egdf ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223207 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223178&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:34:16 GMT The social networking site Facebook has come under fire for planned changes to its privacy settings.
It wants to "simplify" the process so users only have to set them once, instead of for each individual feature.
Facebook says the change will help people share more information with one another.
However, critics argue the new set up could lead to members being persuaded to share too many personal details - their date of birth for example.
Tom Royal is from Computeractive magazine.
He said: "I'm a little bit worried about the settings recommended by Facebook because as far as I can see it's actually sharing quite a lot of information with quite a few people.
"That's not something we'd advise people to do. We'd very much recommend people choose the 'limited' option instead.
'One size fits all'
"For example, just your date of birth can be a security question for lots of internet applications."
Facebook argues a 'one size fits all' approach will make things more straightforward for users.
"The effect of more and more settings has made controlling privacy on Facebook too complicated," according to the site's chief privacy officer Chris Kelly.
It's also phasing out regional networks like London and Manchester because Kelly says "they don't adequately reflect a world where people choose the audience they want to share with".
The number of people using Facebook has risen above the 20 million mark this year in the UK.
It is the most popular social networking site in the world, with 200 million members globally.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/te...00/8133313.stm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223178 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223094&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:09:02 GMT Serco Games Research now PlayableGames London-based game testing group Serco Games Research has rebranded itself PlayableGames to reflect how “user testing can help to improve the game experience for players and, as a result, title sales and customer satisfaction.” PlayableGames recently worked... Serco Games Research now PlayableGames
London-based game testing group Serco Games Research has rebranded itself PlayableGames to reflect how “user testing can help to improve the game experience for players and, as a result, title sales and customer satisfaction.”
PlayableGames recently worked with Sony and Sucker Punch in providing user-experience feedback for the recently released action title infamous.
“Playable games are what the market wants, and the new name highlights how our proven approach to user testing can make games more engaging and playable,” said Ben Weedon, manager of PlayableGames.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...oup-relaunches ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223094 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223088&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:57:48 GMT Space trading game Eve Online has suffered a virtual version of the credit crunch.
One of the game's biggest financial institutions lost a significant chunk of its deposits as a huge theft started a run on the bank.
One of the bank's controllers stole about 200bn kredits and swapped them for real world cash of £3,115.
As news of the theft spread, many of the bank's customers rushed to remove their virtual cash.
Space scandal
The theft from EBank took place in early June but only now have details emerged about the amount of money stolen and why it was taken.
The theft was carried out by EBank's chief executive, a player known as Ricdic, now known to be a 27-year-old Australian who works in the technology industry. His full identity has not been revealed save that his first name is Richard.
The stolen kredits amounted to 8% of the 2.6tn that Ebank had in its virtual vaults.
"Basically this character was one of the people who had been running EBank for a while. He took a bunch of (virtual) money out of the bank, and traded it away for real money," Ned Coker, of Icelandic company CCP which runs Eve, told the Reuters news agency.
Eve Online has about 300,000 players all of whom inhabit the same online universe. The game revolves around trade, mining asteroids and the efforts of different player-controlled corporations to take control of swathes of virtual space.
It has now emerged that Ricdic used the cash to put down a deposit on a house and to pay medical bills.
"I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it," Ricdic told Reuters. "But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation."
Ricdic has now been thrown out of the game as trading in-game cash for real money is against Eve Online's terms and conditions.
The rules governing play within Eve would not have sanctioned Ricdic if he had simply stolen the cash and used it in the game, nor if he had bought kredits with real dollars.
The scandal is not the first to play out in Eve Online. In early 2009 one of the game's biggest corporations, called Band of Brothers, was brought down by industrial espionage.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8132547.stm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223088 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223082&goto=newpost Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:52:45 GMT Widespread naivety on the true value of social network integration, says Mika The game industry fails to understand the core properties and potential of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. That was the view offered by Mike Mika, an industry veteran of twenty years having been involved in... Widespread naivety on the true value of social network integration, says Mika
The game industry fails to understand the core properties and potential of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
That was the view offered by Mike Mika, an industry veteran of twenty years having been involved in over 120 game projects.
“In boardrooms across the world, people are using Facebook and Twitter as a buzzword rather than really understanding why they work so well and what they offer to enhance a game,” he told Develop in an interview published today.
“In the last three years, people have been pitching the same thing: Post highscores on Facebook or Twitter for a viral reaction that increases your potential user base. This is well and good, but it hasn't made anyone rich yet (Well, not many people rich).”
Mika currently stands as head of development at Other Ocean, developer of XBLA title Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the iPhone version of Sega’s Super Monkey Ball. He’s also worked at iPhone specialist dev ngmoco.

“In many ways, the games industry is waking up to what the web has offered for so long,” he added, “and in doing so, it's following some of the classic misconceptions. Just being where the action is doesn't make you succeed. You need to integrate, understand, dissect. There's no magic bullet.”

http://www.develop-online.net/news/3...tter-buzzwords ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=223082 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222489&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:20:23 GMT The number of people visiting Twitter increased 22-fold in the last twelve months, according to an internet monitoring company.
According to Hitwise, the site is now the fifth most viewed social networking site compared with the 84th last year.
Ninety-three per cent of Twitter's growth has happened in 2009.
Director of Research at Hitwise Robin Goad said: "If people accessing their Twitter accounts via mobile phones and third party applications were included, numbers could be higher."
Another measure of Twitter's popularity is its jump in the overall internet rankings.
Last year it was the 969th most visited site on the web. It's now the 38th most visited website.

Events like the protests in Iran have gone global via Twitter
Twitter is popular with celebrities like Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry.
"If anything, the service is even more popular than our numbers imply," said Robin Goad.
"We are only measuring traffic to the main Twitter website.
"If people accessing their Twitter accounts via mobile phones and third party applications like Twitterific or Tweetdeck were included, the numbers could be even higher.
"Media coverage of the site has escalated significantly this year and high profile celebrity endorsements likes Ashton Kutcher have come rolling in."
Micro-blogging site Twitter has also had a major impact on so-called 'citizen journalism', when members of the public use the site to break major news stories or updates such as the terror attacks in Mumbai or the recent protests in Iran.
But the social networking website still has some work to do to catch the likes of MySpace, Bebo and Facebook.
The number of people using Facebook has risen above the 20 million mark this year in the UK and 200 million around the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/te...00/8129340.stm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222489 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222486&goto=newpost Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:16:22 GMT A few new Harry Potter construction pictures can be found at Florida Thrills. Meanwhile one of our sources claims to have gotten an up-close look inside one of the Hogwarts building doors and reports that all they could really see installed so far inside the building was ride track on the ground... A few new Harry Potter construction pictures can be found at Florida Thrills. Meanwhile one of our sources claims to have gotten an up-close look inside one of the Hogwarts building doors and reports that all they could really see installed so far inside the building was ride track on the ground and several large curved projection screens.

http://www.screamscape.com/html/isla..._adventure.htm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222486 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222092&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:49:45 GMT No, it's okay. You can read that again. According to a report released by Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter, the company was given a demo of streaming game service OnLive this past March. Pachter states that latency between the user and OnLive's servers is supposed to be no more than 80 milliseconds, while the games he demoed were running at 25 milliseconds. While Pachter isn't certain if OnLive will "dominate any time soon" he believes that the micro console's video conferencing feature "will likely attract widespread demand." (Wait, it plays Crysis like a gaming PC and it's video conferencing that will sell this thing?)

Pachter states that OnLive should appeal to families that have yet to buy into the current generation of consoles, especially if the service is priced right. The sweet spot, apparently, is right around $5 a month. A higher price could be met with "consumer resistance," says Pachter. Furthermore, Pachter is already predicting that OnLive may not last long as a standalone service, suggesting that it might be purchased by another company and offered as "part of an expanded service offering."

For example, Microsoft could purchase the company to further expand the Xbox as an entertainment hub -- Pachter notes Microsoft's previous acquisition of WebTV, which was co-founded by OnLive CEO Steve Perlman. That's assuming neither Apple nor Verizon beat Microsoft to the punch, of course.

It's too early for us to say if any of this will come to pass -- we're not analysts, after all -- but we were certainly impressed with our own OnLive experience. Still, until we can plug OnLive into our internet and play Crysis for ourselves, we're a bit skeptical. That's okay though, because we're supposed to be.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/30/pa...-optimized-ga/ ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222092 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222036&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:26:24 GMT Despite a bump or two along the way, it seemed that compulsory ID cards were a done deal in the UK. Now, the Financial Times is reporting that the scheme has been shelved. Unfortunately, it seems that this was more a matter of convenience than of concern for citizens' privacy.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/07/...D-Plan-Shelved ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222036 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222033&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:23:09 GMT

We see so many flash drives around these parts, it is truly, truly hard for any to distinguish themselves in our eyes. These ones? Well, we'll admit it: we have a giant soft spot for their massive noggins. Not the first Star Wars flash drives we've seen -- this newest set store up to 2GB per drive -- which isn't anything to throw a party over, but they're really cute, right? The set, which includes Darth Vader, Yoda (look at his toes!), a Stormtrooper and Boba Fett, will be available starting in October for $25 each.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/s...teensy-hearts/ ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222033 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222032&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:42:48 GMT Sentencing will take place this week in the first federal cyber bullying case in the US which was brought to trial after a teenage girl took her own life. Lori Drew, 50, pretended to be a boy on the MySpace website to befriend Megan Meier, who hanged herself after the virtual friendship ended. A... Sentencing will take place this week in the first federal cyber bullying case in the US which was brought to trial after a teenage girl took her own life.
Lori Drew, 50, pretended to be a boy on the MySpace website to befriend Megan Meier, who hanged herself after the virtual friendship ended.
A California judge postponed sentencing until 2 July to review testimony from two witnesses.
Ms Drew's landmark case concerning internet law made worldwide headlines.
Megan, a neighbour of Ms Drew's in St Louis, Missouri, and a former friend of her daughter, took her own life in October 2006.
The court was told that Megan killed herself after receiving several cruel messages from a fictitious 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans.
One post said the world would be better off without her.
Prosecutors said that Ms Drew and several others created the fake online page on MySpace, the social networking site, to find out what Megan was saying about her daughter after they had fallen out.
"Bad law"
Ms Drew was charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is normally used against computer hackers. Prosecutors were unable to find any existing laws within the state of Missouri under which she could be tried.
They had alleged that Ms Drew had violated MySpace's terms of service by using false information to set up an account so she and others could "harass, abuse or harm" Megan Meier.

Drew's trial was the first legal case in the US relating to cyber-bullying
The case was tried in California where MySpace is headquartered.
Last November a jury found Ms Drew guilty of three minor counts of violating MySpace's terms of use, but cleared her of the more serious charges that carried a maximum of 20 years in jail.
"There is a saying in the law that hard cases make bad law and that compelling facts lead courts and prosecutors to pursue cases that are ill advised and that's what we have seen right here with this case," said Andrew Grossman, who is a senior legal analyst with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy research institute.
"What happened to Megan is truly a tragedy and no one wishes to downplay that. Ms Drew didn't do anything that was against the law. She did some things that were unkind, that were rude and not becoming of an adult but not against the law.
"The messages she sent were not criminal had she said them face to face or on the phone. She did not threaten harm or violence. The prosecutors have twisted the law and that should concern everyone who uses the internet," Mr Grossman told BBC News.
"Serious crime"
In the aftermath of the Megan Meier case a number of states and communities drew up cyber bullying laws.
This includes Megan's home state of Missouri where it is now a crime punishable by a fine of up to $500 (£300) or 90 days in jail, to harass someone over the internet.
Efforts are also underway to pass a federal law. California Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is behind the Megan Meier Cyber bullying Prevention Act which has been referred to a judiciary committee for legal review.

A recent study said over 40% of children have been bullied online
This law aims to make it a crime punishable by a fine or up to two years of prison to communicate online with "the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person."
"We need to make new laws in response to these new crimes. Sexting and textual harassment are only a couple of new tactics used by bullies who don't think they'll get caught because there are no bystanders in cyberspace," said Ms Sanchez in an email to the BBC.
"What they need to know is that cyber bullying is a serious crime, and is no less harmful than in-person threats, stalking, and harassment.
"If federal law recognises this new form of bullying, police and prosecutors will be better equipped and educated to deal with this problem. Prosecutors, more importantly, will then have the ability to punish this behaviour in court," said Ms Sanchez.
Some legal experts worry about a law that specifically targets online behaviour.
"These types of matters are better decided in sober moments where they are not driven by a single set of facts," said Professor John Palfrey of the Berkman Centre for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
"One of the big questions we have to grapple with is whether or not bullying done online makes us feel any differently than bullying in the old fashioned way. If it doesn't then its not clear we need a new law in this context.
"Generally speaking it's a bad idea to make cyber specific laws. We don't need a cyber law for stealing, we have a law for theft. We don't need a cyber law for fraud, we have basic laws for that. And the question now should be do we want to outlaw bullying and not just cyber bullying?" questioned Professor Palfrey.
"Devastating"
The US National Crime Prevention Council in a report last year found that 43% of teens are exposed to cyber bullying in one form or another yet only one in 10 kids told their parents.
"Cyber bullying can have such a devastating effect on our young people from depression to falling grades and low self esteem. This case shows however that cyber bullying is not something that just young people commit but we as adults can also be at fault," said the council's Michelle Boykin.
"The issue of how you deal with cyber bullying from a legislative perspective is a tough one and we are glad people are looking at the issue seriously."

Cati said she was a victim of cyber-bullying for nearly three years
Cyber bullying was just one of the topics covered by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, a group of 29 internet businesses, non-profit organisations, academics and technology companies.
The body was set up by the Attorneys General and chaired by Professor Palfrey.
He told the BBC he believed this is an "extremely important case" and that "one of the challenges with cyber bullying is that there has been a sharp increase over the years. The big question on the data is whether there is actually an increase of bullying across the board.
"The difference with cyber bullying over regular bullying is that its recorded and it's not just someone saying something on the playground."
Support website
15 year old Catherine 'Cati' Grant was a victim of cyber bullying from the age of twelve. The cause she said was a misunderstanding with a friend who accused Cati of stealing something.
"She sent me mean messages on MySpace and blamed me for things I didn't do. After a while I got really sad and worried about what people thought of me."
In the end Cati said the bullying stopped when the other girl went to the school principal. He told her to stay away from Cati or "suffer the consequences."
That experience, coupled with the death of Megan Meier, prompted Cati to take action.
She set up a website for teens to get help, support and advice and is planning a tour across America to raise awareness about internet safety and join one million teens together against cyber bullying.
"Megan's death was one of the reasons I set up my website. It was just so shocking and upsetting and I want to do what I can to prevent cyber bullying in general and help teenagers who feel they have no where to turn to," Ms Grant told BBC News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8127533.stm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222032 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222030&goto=newpost Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:40:25 GMT Veteran gaming man Dave Perry has shown off his OnLive-rivalling, cloud gaming service called Gaikai in a new video that is drawing a lot of attention. As you can see from the video, Perry plays World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Mario Kart 64, Spore and more — all running on a bog-standard computer... Veteran gaming man Dave Perry has shown off his OnLive-rivalling, cloud gaming service called Gaikai in a new video that is drawing a lot of attention. As you can see from the video, Perry plays World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Mario Kart 64, Spore and more — all running on a bog-standard computer through the Gaikai website, itself running in a normal version of Firefox."
More details about the service are available at Perry's website. He spoke about Gaikai in an interview a few months ago, and he seems confident that this will work better than OnLive (which we've discussed in the past).

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/0...Service-Gaikai ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=222030 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=221694&goto=newpost Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:15:54 GMT Designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have created a clock that is powered by "eating" bugs. The clock traps insects on flypaper stretched across a roller system and then drops them into a vat of bacteria. The insects are then "digested" and the ensuing chemical reaction is transformed into power that keeps the rollers moving and the LCD clock working. The two offer another version that is powered by mice and an even cooler machine that picks insect fuel from spiderwebs with the help of a robotic arm and a video camera.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06...lock-Eats-Bugs ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=221694 http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=221672&goto=newpost Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:15:32 GMT MPs sitting on the Commons Business and Enterprise Committee are to open an inquiry into broadband speeds in the UK. It follows the publication of the Digital Britain report, which lays out government strategy for the internet. The committee will look at whether the promise to hook all homes up to... MPs sitting on the Commons Business and Enterprise Committee are to open an inquiry into broadband speeds in the UK.
It follows the publication of the Digital Britain report, which lays out government strategy for the internet.
The committee will look at whether the promise to hook all homes up to a minimum 2Mbps (megabits per second) speed is "ambitious enough".
It will also discuss whether the proposed broadband tax is fair.
The so-called broadband tax will mean anyone in the UK with a fixed line telephone will have to pay an extra 50p a month on their telephone bill.
The money raised will fund next-generation broadband rollout to areas that traditionally have been bypassed by broadband providers.

READ THE DIGITAL BRITAIN REPORT
Digital Britain report(3MB)
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Download the reader here
Some experts have questioned whether the amount raised by such a tax will be enough to fund next-generation rollouts to the 30% of the country estimated to be left in the slow lane.
More controversial is the government's commitment to provide all homes with a minimum speed of 2Mbps by 2012.
While few doubt such an ambition is achievable, many think the government should be aiming for a higher speed.
In South Korea, for example, the government has set a minimum 1Gbps (gigabit per second) target for all homes.
Committee syndrome
Alex Salter, co-founder of broadband comparison site SamKnows, thinks it is important to remember that the 2Mbps target is "the very least the government wants us to have".
In terms of the broadband tax it could be the only way to get faster speeds to rural areas, he thinks.
"There are no other obvious options. This is one of the few valid ways that the government can intervene," he said.
The bigger question, according to Mr Salter, is whether the recommendations of the report can survive a change in government.
"It may be future-proofed in terms of the technology but will it be in terms of the politics?" he asked.
Others questioned the need for another inquiry into the state of broadband in the UK.
"The direction of broadband in the UK is running a real risk of suffering a death by committee syndrome, when other countries have set their countries and working towards actual network builds," said Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband site ThinkBroadband.
"An unpopular truth is that if we as a nation want faster broadband, we will have to pay for it somehow, either via a levy, tax or through the bills we pay to firms for our broadband," he added.
The Digital Britain report, drawn up by Communications minister Lord Carter, took eight months to write and covered a wide range of issues, including copyright law, the future of public service broadcasting and digital radio.
The MPs have called for written evidence from interested parties by Friday 25 September and will publish a report shortly afterwards.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8126246.stm ]]> DCEmu Blog Site wraggster http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=221672