AT&T to Block Pirated Content
AT&T has became the first major U.S. telecommunications carrier to announce that it was taking steps to curb Internet piracy on its network. The move marks a surprising reversal for AT&T, given that telecoms and cable companies have traditionally stood behind legal protections to avoid responsibility for copyrighted movies and music flowing through their pipes. “What we’re trying to do in our piracy initiative is to try to come up with a network-based solution,” AT&T head of external and legislative affairs Jim Cicconi said during a panel about rights management at the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica. Mr. Cicconi did not specify how AT&T would detect and block individual copyrighted files, but he did say the carrier would not start blocking web sites used to distribute illegal content. The carrier’s entry into piracy protection comes after AT&T was asked to partner with the Motion Picture Association and Viacom. Record companies have long complained that music piracy was hurting CD sales, while Hollywood studios claim they lost an estimated $2.3 billion worldwide from Internet piracy in 2005 alone. But Mr. Cicconi said AT&T, the largest U.S. broadband Internet provider with almost 13 million lines, came to the realization that pirated material was clogging the network and costing the company money.

FBI tries to fight zombie hordes
The FBI is contacting more than one million PC owners who have had their computers hijacked by cyber criminals. The initiative is part of an ongoing project to thwart the use of hijacked home computers, or zombies, as launch platforms for hi-tech crimes. The FBI has found networks of zombie computers being used to spread spam, steal IDs and attack websites. The agency said the zombies or bots were "a growing threat to national security". The FBI has been trying to tackle networks of zombies for some time as part of an initiative it has dubbed Operation Bot Roast. This operation recently passed a significant milestone as it racked up more than one million individually identifiable computers known to be part of one bot net or another. The law enforcement organisation said that part of the operation involved notifying people who owned PCs it knew were part of zombie or bot networks. In this way it said it expected to find more evidence of how they are being used by criminals. "The majority of victims are not even aware that their computer has been compromised or their personal information exploited. Many people fall victim by opening an attachment on an e-mail message containing a virus or by visiting a booby-trapped webpage. Many hi-tech criminals are now trying to subvert innocent webpages to act as proxies for their malicious programs.

Google lobbies for 'open' wireless networks
Google and its allies may have lost key Capitol Hill votes on Net neutrality laws last year, but now they're mounting a counterattack: a lobbying effort to extend similar rules to forthcoming wireless broadband networks. As part of a congressionally mandated switchover to digital television broadcasts, the federal government is preparing to auction off a generous chunk of the 700MHz broadcast TV band by early next year. Wireless companies are eager to bid on it because its signals can travel farther and easily penetrate walls--qualities that lend themselves to widespread, wireless broadband networks. But a key question, set to be discussed at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday morning, is whether open access rules--a close cousin of last year's legislative tussles over Net neutrality--should be levied on at least some of the companies that win licenses through the auction. In charge of deciding that point is the Federal Communications Commission, which is still finalizing its rules for the proceeding. That has led to a renewal of old alliances. On one side are last year's Net neutrality proponents, including liberal advocacy groups, wireless technologists and companies like Google, which say that federal regulators must step in and impose "open access" rules. Otherwise, they claim, only a few powerful companies will control this prized chunk of spectrum. On the other side are the telecommunications giants such as AT&T that blocked extensive Net neutrality rules in the House of Representatives and the Senate last year--and are invoking the same free-market arguments a second time. 

Clearwire inks wireless pact with DirecTV, EchoStar
Clearwire said it has signed deals to provide wireless high-speed Internet access to customers of satellite TV providers DirecTV and EchoStar Communications, sending shares up as much as 24%. The deals allow the two largest U.S. satellite TV companies to offer high-speed Internet, video and voice in all markets that Clearwire offers its service. DirecTV and EchoStar will offer Clearwire's high-speed Internet service to their customers while Clearwire in turn will be able to offer the video services of one or both satellite companies to its customers. The launch is planned for later this year, the high-speed wireless service provider said. DirecTV and EchoStar Satellite TV providers have been facing competitive pressure from cable operators in the last two years as the cable companies have won customers with attractively-priced packages of video, phone and high speed Internet access. Both DirecTV and EchoStar have separately said they would explore all options available to them including Wi-Max technology such as Clearwire, broadband access over power lines and broadband over satellite. Last year both companies signed a distribution deal with WildBlue, a satellite broadband provider, partly owned by Liberty Media Holding Corp.. Liberty Media is expected to close a deal to take a controlling stake in DirecTV by the end of the year. DirecTV said last month it would look at broadband access over power lines.

eBay pulls Google ads over 'Boston tea party' row
Online auctioneer eBay has removed its advertising from Google's AdWords network in the US, following an alleged spat over conflicting parties held in Boston. Commenting on the removal of the ads, eBay. This is part of an ongoing experiment to look at how we market across all media channels. eBay's pullout was in protest over Google's plan to hold a party in competition to an eBay conference for merchants who sell on its site. Google's ‘Checkout Freedom Party’ in Boston, was aimed at eBay merchants in town to attend the eBay Live annual seller conference. The party aimed to lobby eBay merchants to accept its online payment system, known as Checkout, which competes with eBay's PayPal. The Checkout system was introduced about a year ago and has since been banned from eBay sites, with the auctioneer claiming the system has not been fully established yet. Shortly after Google's event was announced, eBay pulled all of its adverts from Google's US AdWords network. Yesterday, Google suddenly cancelled its own event. A posting on Google’s official blog reads: "eBay Live attendees have plenty of activities to keep them busy this week in Boston, and we did not want to detract from that activity.

Microsoft patents your voice
Microsoft has put in a patent for a method of identifying a person's voice over the phone. Application number 10,777,322 covers a method and apparatus to identifying a caller of a call. A voice input is received from the caller, and characteristics of the voice are checked off against a list of acceptable acoustic models, the patent said. It means that a caller can be identified as a new or known caller based on a checklist of as one of the previously identified callers or as a new caller based on the plurality of acoustic scores. Of course if someone rings you and you recognise their voice, your brain is doing exactly the same thing. So when the blokes from Vole pop around to tell you that your brain is in breach of its patent you will know what they are banging on about.

Kodak says camera sensor may eliminate flash
Eastman Kodak said on Thursday it has developed digital camera technology that nearly eliminates the need for flash photography, part of the company's effort to make money from its deep patent portfolio. The world's biggest maker of photographic film says its proprietary sensor technology significantly increases sensitivity to light. Image sensors act as a digital camera's eyes by converting light into an electric charge to begin the capture process. Kodak, which is in the last year of a lengthy and expensive transformation into a digital photography company as its film business shrinks, intends to lean on its wealth of intellectual property to boost its bottom line, expecting up to $250 million this year alone in royalties and related revenues.

Should you ban social networking sites at work?
The rise and rise of social networking websites such as MySpace has put the spotlight on how businesses respond to staff use of such sites during the working day. New poll suggests companies have little to fear from the web 2.0 craze - yet. Asked how much time in the office they spend using social networking sites each week, two-thirds of respondents (66%) said they don't spend any time at all on it. And a further 24% said they spend less than one hour per week checking out the likes of Bebo and Facebook. Is there a skills shortage? But not every office worker is so abstemious when it comes to social networking in the office - 8% of respondents said they spend one to five hours per week engaged in the online activity, while 2% owned up to racking up five to 10 hours each working week. Staff access to popular social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace is banned as a matter of course by certain companies, such as some investment banks.

Updating Maps on the Spot and Sharing the Fixes
Out-of-date maps can throw a wrench into your driving plans, but TomTom’s new Map Share software combines cartography with community to allow users to update maps on the go — and later share the results with others. For example, a driver who comes across a closed road or detour can enter changes to the route on the TomTom navigation device’s screen right there. The changes can later be uploaded to the Internet with the TomTom Home software, which lets the device transfer data when connected to a Mac or PC. Other TomTom users can choose to download all map updates to their own Global Positioning System units, or just those verified by TomTom. The TomTom Map Share technology is free and included with the new TomTom GO 720 G.P.S. receiver, shown here, which will be available in stores and at www.tomtom.com by the end of next month. (The Map Share software will eventually be released to users of older TomTom G.P.S. products.) The GO 720 has a 4.3-inch color screen, a built-in FM transmitter to play music stored on the device or from MP3 players through the car’s radio, and the ability to record your own audio driving instructions.

Sound start to music on mobiles
Swedes have become the first to try a music download service for mobile phones that is taking on Apple's iPhone. Developed by British hi-tech firm Omnifone, the MusicStation service gives subscribers unlimited access to music for a weekly fee. It allows customers to download tracks from a library of one million songs while they are out and about. Launches in the UK, France and Germany are expected to follow soon. Sweden's Telenor is the first operator to offer the service to its customers but Omnifone has signed deals with 30 other mobile phone firms across Europe, Africa and Asia. It has no plans to launch the service in the US. Tracks are stored on a phone's internal or removable memory and the numbers of songs a handset can hold will vary. Deals have been struck with the big four record companies, Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner, and several independent labels to populate the library of tracks. The service costs £1.99 or 2.99 euros per week and the fee is added to a customer's phone bill. To encourage people to use MusicStation this fee includes data download charges. Industry analysts have said that the high fees mobile operators levy on data downloads has discouraged people from using them. While it is already possible to listen to music on mobiles and to download tracks these tend to be confined to particular operators or handsets.

London gains lead in transatlantic battle for Wi-Fi supremacy
London's economic frothiness has won it the title of Wi-Fi capital of the world, in news which is sure to terrify Notting Hill's designer tinfoil hat Earth mother brigade. For the first time, London has overtaken New York for hotspot numbers, according to RSA's annual survey. The UK capital clocked up 7,130 Wi-Fi networks in 2007, compared to 2,747 last year. As well as seeing its crown as global financial hub float away across the Atlantic last year, the Big Apple has to contend with just 6,371 brain-frying access points. There's been a slight improvement in the proportion of business networks which are unsecured on both sides of the pond; it's dropped to about 18% from 23%. Happily for internet-loving francophobes the world over, Paris sauntered in with a lacadaisical 825 hotspots.

Louisiana town outlaws 'sagging pants'
A Louisiana town council has unanimously passed an ordinance aimed at tackling the public decency menace of low-slung trousers. Delcambre Mayor Carol Broussard, earlier this week confirmed he will sign the proposal "to make wearing saggy trousers an act of indecent exposure". He said: "If you expose your private parts, you'll get a fine." To absolutely clarify his position on the matter, he said of trouser low-riders: "They're better off taking the pants off and just wearing a dress." The possible penalty is US$500, and offenders really letting it all hang out could face six months' jail. Town attorney Ted Ayo explained that the ordinance "expands on the existing state indecent exposure law by adding underwear to the list of forbidden exposures". He elaborated: "This is a new ordinance that deals specifically with sagging pants. It's about showing off your underwear in public." Unsurprisingly, some residents have complained the clampdown is aimed at black citizens, since " low-slung trousers are fashionable among hip hop fans". Broussard dismissed the claim with: "White people wear sagging pants, too."

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