Apple Working on Movie-Rental Deal
Apple is in advanced discussions with Hollywood movie studios about launching an online film-rental service to rival cable and satellite TV operators. Apple is reportedly pitching the rental services to Hollywood aggressively. Titles would rent for $2.99 for a 30-day period, then expire. There is no word on which studios might participate in the new venture. However, it is said that Viacom likes the concept, while Universal Studios opposes it. In addition to television shows, Apple already sells old movies from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Lions Gate Entertainment. Other than Disney, though, Apple has not been successful in securing new releases from major studios to peddle on its iTunes Music Store. A deal with Hollywood would put Apple in fierce competition with established Web-based, movie-rental venues, such as Amazon.com and Movielink, which is owned by a group of movie studios.

Google ranked 'worst' on privacy
Google has the worst privacy policy of popular net firms, says a report. Rights group Privacy International rated the search giant as "hostile" to privacy in a report ranking web firms by how they handle personal data. The group said Google was leading a "race to the bottom" among net firms many of whom had policies that did little to substantially protect users. In response Google said the report was mistaken and that it worked hard to keep user data confidential. The report by the veteran cyber rights group is the result of six months' research which scrutinised 20 popular net firms to find out how they handle the personal information users gave up when they started using such services. None of the firms featured in the report got a "privacy friendly" rating. Yahoo and AOL were said to have "substantial threats" to privacy as were Facebook and Hi5 for the allegedly poor way they dealt with user data. Microsoft, one place higher in the rankings than these four firms, was described as having "serious lapses" in its privacy policy.

VPNs, IP telephony biggest homeworking headaches
VPN (virtual private network) is seen as the hardest remote working technology to manage by IT managers, claims research. It was chosen by 37% of respondents as the remote working technology that causes the most headaches in a survey commissioned by IP telephony company, ShoreTel. IP telephony and PDAs linking to office email followed VPN as the trickiest systems to manage effectively. But despite issues with certain technologies, 53% of those questioned said having staff working away from the office does not make their job harder. The survey showed remote working is becoming the norm, with 92% of IT managers saying their organisations have people working away from the office during the working week and 93% have systems to cater for this.

FCC's ban on 'fleeting expletives' ruled unconstitutional
US television regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may not have the right to police American airwaves, a court has ruled. The ruling is a blow to a George W Bush-led clampdown on on-air swearing. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York has said that an indecency finding in 2006 against television network Fox Broadcasting over two separate live swearing incidents went too far. It also questioned the basis of a 2004 FCC policy revision targeting "fleeting" swearing. The FCC's policing of "indecent" speech stems from section 1464 of the United States Code which provides that: "[w]hoever utters any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." The FCC's authority to regulate the broadcast medium is limited by the Communications Act, which prohibits the FCC from engaging in censorship, but it has authority to impose penalties for violations. The commission has long applied its own definition of indecent speech: "Indecent speech is language that describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities and organs. Such indecent speech is actionable when broadcast at times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience." However, it also had a policy that a "fleeting expletive" would not be actionable. Fleeting swearing is the one-off, brief use of swearing, usually in a live broadcast. That policy changed in 2004, after a speech by Bono at the Golden Globe Awards in 2002. Accepting an award, the U2 frontman said: "This is really, really, fucking brilliant. Really, really great." The expletive was not repeated, but the FCC took the view that it violated the rules on indecency. The FCC's policy change on swearing is seen in the US as a reflection of President Bush's views and the Court attacked its constitutional basis.

Skype goes out to mobile phones
Skype Pro customers can now make international calls from their mobiles or any other phone at Skype Out rates, provided they've pre-registered the numbers they want to call. When an international number is registered with the newly-launched Skype To Go service, a local number is provided as a proxy. The user can call that number from any phone and is connected to the international number they registered, with the cost of the call being billed to their Skype Out account. Obviously, the call is routed over the internet, with associated quality issues, though for a cellular call the difference may not be noticed and the cost-saving should be considerable.

Why French DSL Service Is Like a Rude French Waiter
France has more broadband DSL customers than most countries, including the United States. But if you happen to be one of the millions of customers having major problems with your connection, then life can be a living hell. High-tech service in France is like service in a Parisian cafe -- intermittent and snooty. Not a day goes by when 60 Millions de Consommateurs, the French equivalent of Consumer Reports, isn't inundated with complaints from DSL subscribers about a faulty connections, abusive pricing practices or incompetent technical support. Nearly half of all complaints are DSL-related, the publication says. "Imagine if one customer out of four complained that a bakery's bread was not fresh," the publication wrote. According to the magazine, one customer was charged more than $120 to call the technical-support hotline of ISP Neuf and still couldn't get a DSL or telephone connection for nine months. Another unhappy customer tried to cancel her service from Orange, but the company continued to debit her account more than $40 per month, even after it confirmed it had received her request in writing. Another customer's ISP admitted that an underground cable was damaged, but simply said they couldn't give a date when it would be repaired. One government watchdog organization, the Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répressions des Fraudes, reported that DSL service complaints surged 17.4% in 2006. A spokesman from France Telecom, parent company of Orange, acknowledged what he called "forces majeurs," which he said account for periodic broadband disruptions throughout the country. He listed typical causes such as power failures, floods and other "acts of God." The France Telecom spokesman admitted that other problems crop up, such as router and PC conflicts, and software glitches, which the average consumer cannot remedy. These problems are compounded by the reluctance -- sometimes the outright refusal -- of French ISPs to provide onsite maintenance. One ISP, Club Internet, recently remedied problems on its saturated networks only after weeks of outages all over France, without volunteering any reimbursement for lost service.

D-Link to ship 200Mbps Powerline network kit
D-Link, the networking solutions provider, has announced a 200Mbps PowerLine Network Kit designed to enable consumers to tap into existing electrical wiring to extend their home network. According to the company, network-enabled devices can be added to a home network using the new D-Link PowerLine Network Kit the DHP-301, which contains two PowerLine adapters, Ethernet cabling and an easy-to-follow installation disk. No new cables or wires are needed since the kit adapters take advantage of ordinary AC power and ever-present wall sockets for transferring data, D-Link adds. The technology is said to be suited for bandwidth-demanding applications, such as high-definition media streaming, music sharing and online multi-player gaming. PowerLine is a 'no new wires’ technology that aims to be a fast and cost-effective alternative to traditional Ethernet installations, complementing a wireless home network system.

Church wants cash for 'sick' game
Entertainment giant Sony has been branded irresponsible for using a cathedral from a city plagued by gun crime in a violent video game. The Church of England says the company did not seek permission to use the Manchester Cathedral in the game, and is demanding an apology and a large donation to be used in its work with young people. Church leaders have accused Sony of the "desecration" of the cathedral after the firm set the top-selling the new PlayStation 3 game, "Resistance: Fall of Man," in the place of worship. The game, which has sold more than one million copies, sees a virtual shoot-out between rival gunmen with hundreds killed during a battle inside the cathedral. Sony has been criticized for choosing Manchester -- a city where gun violence is rife, and has left tens of youngsters dead. Every year a candlelit memorial services is held in the Manchester Cathedral in honor of people who have been killed by guns.

Scotland ranked 'worst small country'
Scotland's life expectancy rate was "a major factor" in it being rated Western Europe's worst-performing small country. That's according to the The Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) annual Index of Wealth, which cast an eye over 10 countries - including Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, and Norway - with less that nine million citizens, assessing "economic performance, employment rates, health and education". FSB Scotland policy convener Andy Willox declared: "The index clearly shows that, on these indicators, Scotland is the worst small country in western Europe, and requires urgent action to improve both our life chances and life expectancy. Coming as it does so soon after the election of an SNP government, this year's index shows the new First Minister Alex Salmond will have his work cut out for him if he is to match reality with his aspiration of making Scotland healthier, wealthier, and fairer." Regarding Scots' tendency to pop their clogs earlier than the competition, Willcox said: "We are already far down the table of comparator countries, and on every count we are travelling in the wrong direction. Health, education, the employment rate, and economic performance are all interlinked. Improvements in health or education should help businesses recruit and retain healthy and highly skilled staff, thus boosting productivity and ultimately economic growth." The FSB fingered Glasgow as the "worst performing local authority area in Scotland", coming bottom in the areas of mortality, education, and employment. Willcox described the city's lamentable showing as "deeply troubling".

Skills shortage hits Indian CIOs
Indian CIOs must consider offshoring as the country is hit by an IT skills shortage. The offshoring hotspot is also facing "second-class" treatment from local service providers which are eating up the country's skilled IT resources, local service providers are not allocating enough quality resources for Indian customers and typically give the best resources to global customers, which pay in dollars and yield better margins. India has a "severe shortage of skilled IT resources" at all staffing levels. Indian companies will increasingly source IT skills from Hong Kong and Singapore. Indian CIOs need to invest heavily in training and develop programmers to retain the talent they already have and start recruiting from alternative local sources - such as from small and medium-sized cities. Last year, the head of India's IT trade body Nasscom said the country will suffer a severe IT skills shortage by 2010.

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