silicon.com : News

eBay's Skype sale gets green light

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:30:02 GMT

eBay has announced today that the sale of its controlling stake in VoIP service Skype will go ahead, following the settlement of litigation over the proposed transaction. The settlement restructures the deal with an investor group led by Silver Lake and puts an end to a dispute with software maker Joltid over the licensing of software that underlies Skype's internet telephony service.

In addition, the settlement brings Skype and Joltid founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, into the investor group. Zennström and Friis will take a 14 per cent stake in Skype, in return for contributing Joltid software and "significant capital investment".

Photos: Android marches onto even more smartphones

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:27:02 GMT

It's two years since Google announced it was building an open mobile OS platform - and the number of smartphones with Android inside is on the up.

Sony Ericsson's first Android phone is a bit of a looker. The Xperia X10 runs version 1.6 of the Android OS - aka Donut - and is skinned with a propriety UI which the mobile maker says will be used for other Android devices in future.

The Weekly Round-Up: 06.11.09

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:17:01 GMT

Question: What do Britain's hairdressers and IT technicians have in common?

Answer: A shared love of getting a bit on the side.

Join the silicon.com LinkedIn networking group

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:33:01 GMT

silicon.com has launched a networking group on LinkedIn to help readers connect with each other and keep up to date with silicon.com's top stories.

The group is open to all silicon.com readers, from CIOs and IT directors to other business leaders - including CEOs, finance directors, HR, sales and marketing chiefs who want to help their organisation reach its goals through the smart application of technology.

Windows 7: Over 200 per cent more popular than Vista

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:18:01 GMT

That Windows 7 is more popular than Vista is no surprise - but just how much more love is Microsoft's latest OS getting?

According to research by analyst NPD Group, Windows 7's first week after release blew Vista's out of the water.

Why are Indian outsourcing companies such bashful suitors?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:24:01 GMT

Indian outsourcers certainly have the cash - so why aren't they buying up their competitors? Saritha Rai finds out.

They have accumulated piles of cash so you would think top Indian outsourcing firms such as Infosys Technologies and Wipro Ltd would go hunting for sizeable acquisitions in the current market.

Weekend Gadget Watch: Canon PowerShot S90

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Considering hitting the shops at the weekend? Looking for inspiration? Check out the latest in our series of gadget mini-reviews, courtesy of silicon.com's sister site CNET.co.uk, the home of technology reviews. For the full review and details, click on the link below.

What is it:10-megapixel compact with high-end features

Bletchley Park's World War Two codebreakers in their own words

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:41:02 GMT

The work of the Bletchley Park codebreakers is credited with shortening the Second World War by two years. But for three decades, those who worked on decrypting Nazi communications could tell no one what they had done.

Such was the secrecy in which the codebreakers operated many did not even realise the true importance of their work until Bletchley's wartime activities were made public in 1974.

Europe: Brace yourself for a telecoms overhaul

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:04:01 GMT

The European Parliament and Council of Telecoms Ministers have reached a compromise over the rights of internet users continent-wide, setting Europe on course for a major overhaul of telecoms regulations.

The Telecoms Reform package, which consists of a set of new laws tackling subjects ranging from data breach notifications to faster number porting, will become law in every EU country by May 2011, it was agreed on Wednesday night.

BT offers free fibre to Glasgow businesses

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:24:01 GMT

BT is offering a free taste of superfast broadband to businesses in Glasgow.

The trial is part of the telco's ongoing investment in fibre infrastructure in the UK. Back in 2008 BT announced it would be spending £1.5bn to bring fibre broadband to around 10 million homes and businesses by 2012.

Exclusive: Jimmy Wales on what's next for Wikipedia

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:37:01 GMT

In an exclusive interview, Wikipedia founder and silicon.com Agenda Setter Jimmy Wales talks to Natasha Lomas about what's next for Wikipedia and why the site needs geeks of all kinds.

If you've ever written something about Jimmy Wales and posted it online, chances are he's read it. He mentions a Twitter post I made, prior to our interview, asking whether people think he's a hero or villain.

Covert surveillance must be reserved for serious crimes, says government

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:39:02 GMT

Local authorities must cut down on using covert-surveillance techniques to investigate petty offences, the government has said.

Ripa (the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) granted public authorities the power to use surveillance to investigate crimes such as terrorism - but councils have attracted criticism for using them to detect petty offences such as dog-fouling.

Telegraph CIO on the rocky road to going Google

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:49:01 GMT

Businesses thinking of switching to cloud computing should expect a bumpy probation period, if the experience of The Telegraph Media Group (TMG) is anything to go by.

The company's CIO Paul Cheesbrough knows all about the challenges of moving to the cloud, after recently migrating 2,000 staff from Microsoft Outlook and Exchange to Google Apps Premier Edition and Google's email archiving service Postini.

Techies and hairdressers united in the moonlight

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:24:01 GMT

What do Blighty's hairdressers and IT technicians have in common? A shared love of moonlighting for a little extra cash, apparently.

More than a third (37 per cent) of IT technicians admit taking on extra work outside office hours, a survey has revealed. This lands techies in the top 10 UK professions for moonlighting, although some way behind the most prolific cash-in-hand workers of all: the not-so-humble hairdresser.

Whose IT budget has been hit the hardest?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:58:01 GMT

While the debate over bankers' bonuses may still be generating headlines, it seems the financial services industry has found one way to cut back - slash IT budgets.

Financial services firms' IT budgets fell by 8.3 per cent between 2008 and 2009, meaning the banks have cut their budgets more than other industries, and saw spending fall by 6.8 per cent year-on-year.

Photos: Inside a Microsoft datacentre

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:43:01 GMT

Microsoft recently opened its Chicago datacentre. In its first phase, the ground floor of the facility is designed to hold up to 56 containers, each filled with somewhere between 1,800 to 2,500 servers.

Photo credit: Microsoft

Phishers set their sights on corporate accounts

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:36:01 GMT

Fraudsters have attempted to steal an estimated $100m from corporate bank accounts using malware and money mules, the FBI said yesterday.

The FBI is seeing several new victim complaints and cases every week, according to an Internet Crime Complaint Center report.

Naked CIO: Social networks are useless for finding a job

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:00 GMT

While social networking sites can be fun for connecting with family and friends, they're no use when it comes to professional networking, says the Naked CIO.

It used to be that social networking websites were a perfect place to collaborate with colleagues, bring together like-minded people and make professional contacts who could enhance your career. But no more.

Why the UK will never create a Google, Microsoft or Oracle

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:20:01 GMT

The UK will never create a software giant to rival the likes of Microsoft, Google or Oracle.

That's the sobering conclusion of the silicon.com CIO Jury which voted 10 to two against, when asked whether the UK could create a global software business to rival the technology industry's most powerful companies.

£39m boost for London Olympics' emergency comms

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:14:02 GMT

The Home Office has announced a £39m deal to help emergency services comms cope during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The National Police Improvement Agency has signed the £39m contract with Airwave, the company that provides the mobile radio network used by every UK police force and currently being rolled out to every ambulance trust and Fire and Rescue service in the country, to fund an increase in the system's capacity in time for the 2012 Games.

Magic Mouse - Apple's best ever?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:46:02 GMT

The Apple mouse has long been the weak link in its hardware set-ups. Seb Janacek asks: Can the new Magic Mouse change all that?

I have a dream a dream that Apple finally gets around to creating a really great mouse. A mouse to complement its rather splendid computers and even finer software.

'Incompetent': Watchdog's verdict on prisoner database

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:28:01 GMT

Parliamentary spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee has branded the implementation of the National Offender Management Information System (C-Nomis) a failure.

Chair of the PAC, Edward Leigh, said of the programme that was designed to implement a single database between the Prison Service and the National Probation Service: "Even we were surprised by the extent of the failure of C-Nomis", adding: "there was not even a minimum level of competence in the planning and execution of this project".

'You're responsible for your own wi-fi security' say ISPs

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:48:02 GMT

Customers are responsible for their own wi-fi security, according to hotspot operators.

BT Openzone, The Cloud and T-Mobile all recommended wi-fi users adopt VPNs to help protect themselves while using hotspots.

Photos: The Apple mouse through the ages

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Lisa mouseApple's Lisa of the early 1980s was among the first computers to sport a mouse - albeit a boxy and clunky one.

And while the Lisa tanked, most people remember the mouse as a key part of the Macs that followed it.

Maemo and Android: Symbian's open source rivals up the pressure

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:14:01 GMT

While Symbian continues to dominate the smartphone market it could soon be facing increasing competition from a new quarter - Maemo.

There's no debating that the Symbian platform remains the daddy of the smartphone world: one in every two sold today carries the Symbian OS.