LinkedIn – new ‘Arts Ireland’ group.

By James Kelly, September 30, 2009
If you’re not on LinkedIn, you might, for a moment, fight the initial reaction of ‘oh no, not another drain on my time!‘ and read on, as what follows may be of interest to those working in an arts management context.
Firstly though, for those already on Linkedin – this is advise you we’ve set up an Arts Ireland group (hence the new logo above). The aim this group is to provide an online space where those working in the management and administration of the arts in Ireland can discuss and exchange ideas, find support, make contacts, find work opportunities etc.
With 60 members and rising, all are welcome! Click here to join; Arts Ireland Group
(we only ask that you are working, seeking to work, or have an active interest in arts management and administration in Ireland).
**
For those unsure / unclear of what exactly Linkedin is;
Linked In is a professional social networking site, and as such is a powerful tool to help you access a wide network of professional contacts.
Where a site such as facebook keeps you in touch with friends, Linkedin is about keeping in touch with colleagues (and friends) in a professional capacity. As such, the functionality of the site is geared accordingly (and there is not a holiday photograph in sight).
One aspect of the site I find very useful is the ability to access an extended network of people outside my own circle.
For example, imagine I am looking for a web designer with experience of designing a site incorporating a ticketing system, and that I know no one who can do this. This is what I do;
In Linkedin I search my contacts’ contacts using specific search terms
I find my friends Joe, Sue and George each have a different contact who can do this (Joe, Sue and George don’t have to respond to me, the search is automatic)
I phone Joe, Sue and George and ask them if they can recommend their contact
very quickly I get an idea of the right person for the job without much effort.
It’s like word of mouth on steroids. When you start to use groups, this becomes even more powerful. Every group members can post a question which all the group will see – they can choose whether or not to respond. So, I could ask the group (most of whom I won’t know personally) for advice on a web designer with specific experience, and get advice from all sort of people I don’t know.
Many of you are familiar with discussion forums (like the fantastic boards.ie) so the idea might not be so new. What we are hoping for Arts Ireland, is that the group becomes a discussion forum specifically for arts management and administration in Ireland – and this will only work if a critical mass of people get involved.
Well, by now you probably get the idea. If you’re curious, the best and easiest thing to do is give it a go. It’s free, you can give as little or as much personal information when you’re setting up your personal account, which can take as little as 5 minutes. For those interested in a bit more explanation, this film explains the concept a bit more…

http://artsaudiences.ie/category/social-media/

Shakespeare and Van Gogh – old masters at the cutting edge.

By James Kelly, October 29, 2009
Those of you who were at the Arts Council’s New Media, New Audience? conference last November may remember a speaker from the Royal Shakespeare Company. He spoke of the RSC’s strategy of using the internet to reach out to new audiences, many of which the RSC felt would never actually make it to their venue.
Their site is indeed a fantastic resource for anyone interested in Shakespeare, or theatre in general. You could, for example, watch insightful footage of a rehearsal of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. There is no direct ’sell’ involved with this, i.e. they’re not selling tickets to Romeo and Juliet. In monetary terms it may be hard to see a financial return from this kind of web activity. However, this degree of online endeavour clearly reinforces the RSC’s brand internationally, and it’s claim to be the world’s leading authority on the works of Shakespeare.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is taking things a step further, and are now ‘the first museum on the European Continent to have developed an iPhone application’.
The app, called “Yours, Vincent” is a little work of art in itself. Free to download from iTunes, it incorporates a selection of beautifully produced short films, interviews and images to bring the user through selected accounts from Vincent van Gogh’s letters, and related paintings.
The app was developed to go along with the exhibit “Van Gogh’s Letters: The Artist Speaks” which opened earlier this month, and runs to January 3, 2010 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
For those unable to make it to Amsterdam, all of the letters are also available to view online at http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/.

http://artsaudiences.ie/

Time-wasting Twitter users exact a toll on employers.

27.10.2009Micro-blogging site Twitter and other social-networking services are costing businesses stg£1.3 billion a year through lost productivity as employees use these services during the working day for personal use.
From the 1,460 office workers surveyed by IT services player Morse, more than half (57pc) of workers said they used social-networking sites during the working day for personal use.
40 minutes weekly
On average, those people were spending 40 minutes on these sites each week, equating to just under a full working week being wasted each year by employees using social-networking sites at work. The time wasted could even be higher as the research also revealed that, on average, office workers think their colleagues spend nearly an hour (59 minutes) each day at work on social-networking sites. This clearly shows the productivity strain that such online behaviour is having on businesses.
“The popularity of social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook has grown considerably over the last couple of years, however, with it has come the temptation to visit such sites during office hours,” said Philip Wicks, a consultant at Morse.
“When it comes to an office environment, the use of these sites is clearly becoming a productivity black hole. The recent case of Portsmouth City Council banning Facebook access for all employees was a high-profile example, but it is clear that businesses shouldn’t turn a blind eye to their employees’ use of social networks, and instead look to formulate and enforce sensible usage policies.”
Policies about usage
When it comes to usage policies, it is clear many businesses have some way to go, as of those surveyed just more than three-quarters (76pc) said their employer hadn’t issued them with specific guidelines with regards to using Twitter. Without guidelines and usage polices, Morse says businesses are leaving themselves wide open to a reduction in productivity, brand damage and security risks.
Brand reputation is extremely important for every business, especially when it comes to social media. There have been several high-profile incidents recently, involving the likes of Curry’s, PC World, BA and Virgin Atlantic, where employees have abused customers on social networks and other public-facing sites, thereby damaging those companies’ brands.
Yet worryingly, despite a third of office workers admitting they had seen sensitive information posted on social networks, overall, 84pc felt it should be up to them as to what they post online. This indicates that guidelines are either being poorly communicated or are not strict enough.
“After years of preaching the security dangers of clicking on unknown emails and websites, employees can unintentionally be letting their guard down when it comes to clicking on links from the likes of Twitter and other social-networking sites."
- Philip Wicks, consultant at IT services player Morse
Particularly when it comes to Twitter, many businesses also face security threats due to the increased use of URL shortening, meaning that employees can’t see the original address for the website they may be visiting.
This potentially leaves employees open to phishing scams, malware and computer viruses, which could compromise a business’ IT security. Of the office workers surveyed, 81pc admitted they were worried they might be clicking on a link to an insecure website.
“After years of preaching the security dangers of clicking on unknown emails and websites, employees can unintentionally be letting their guard down when it comes to clicking on links from the likes of Twitter and other social-networking sites.
“It is important that businesses do their best to protect themselves by reiterating the dangers. However, if implemented correctly, the use of social networks can help facilitate closer ties with employees and customers. Therefore, businesses need to strike the right balance between engagement and productivity when it comes to employee usage,” Wicks said.
By John Kennedy
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14231/

EU aims for pan-European mobile-broadband network.

28.10.2009
As most European Union member States aim to switch radio and television from analog to digital by 2012, the European Commission (EC) is proposing that the freed-up radio spectrum is used for a pan-European mobile-broadband network that could mean lower-cost international voice and data charges.
The proposal, which is being presented today by the EC, is specifically seeking to use the 790 to 862 megahertz range across the board which could potentially standardise mobile-broadband comms across Europe making VoIP (voice over internet protocol) more viable and widespread.
The EC also estimates that reserving this spectrum and thus standardising mobile broadband could have economic benefits to the tune of €50 billion over the next 15 years if all member states come on board.
While this would potentially bring broadband connectivity to rural parts of European countries with little or no coverage, the fear is not all EU member states will have made the big switch from analog to digital by 2012 in order to free up the spectrum.
For countries with blanket broadband coverage, this recommendation, if adopted, could introduce competition and lower prices.
By Marie Boran
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14246/

UK to block illegal file sharers - Mandelson.

28.10.2009

Britain’s business secretary Lord Mandelson says he is going to soon introduce laws that will tackle the problem of illegal file sharing. At present one in every 20 tracks downloaded in the UK is legal.
Introducing a three-pronged strategy, Lord Mandelson said that new laws in isolation would not be enough to tackle the problem, which costs the creative industries millions of pounds each year.
He called on ISPs and the creative industries to work with Government to ensure a package is put in place which balances education, enforcement and new business models to discourage unlawful downloading.
Digital Economy Bill
Speaking today at the C&binet creative industries conference, Lord Mandelson confirmed proposals set out in the recent consultation on unlawful file-sharing would form the basis of measures in the Digital Economy Bill.
The Government expects that warning notifications, followed up with targeted legal action by rights holders, should be the only enforcement action required to significantly reduce the level of unlawful file-sharing.
However, the Government would have reserve powers to issue an order requiring ISPs to invoke technical measures. Account suspension will be an option available to apply at the last resort for the most serious infringers.
Unlawful downloads
Highlighting the scale of the problem, Lord Mandelson referred to the music industry’s assessment that said only one in every 20 tracks downloaded in the UK is downloaded lawfully.
“It’s clear that whilst unlawful file-sharing excites a strong response from all sides, it is not a victimless act. It is a genuine threat to our creative industries.
“The creative sector has faced challenges to protected formats before. But the threat faced today from online infringement, particularly unlawful file-sharing, is of a different scale altogether. We cannot sit back and do nothing.
“We will put in place a fair, thorough process, involving clear warnings to people suspected of unlawful file-sharing, with technical measures such as account suspension only used as a very last resort.
“Only persistent rule breakers would be affected - and there would be an independent, clear and easy appeals process to ensure that the correct infringer is penalised.”
Education meets innovation
He added that educating consumers in the value of intellectual property rights would help to bring about changes in behaviour - alongside innovation and new business models enabling consumers to download content at competitive prices.
“A ‘legislate and enforce’ approach to beating piracy can only ever be part of the solution. The best long-term solution has to be a market in which those who love music and film, for example, can find a deal that makes acting unlawfully an unnecessary risk.”
In other areas, Lord Mandelson said there was a case for copyright laws to be modernised to reflect reasonable consumer behaviour which did not damage the sustainability of the creative industries.
This would mean that, for example, someone who has bought a CD would be able to copy it to their iPod or share it with family members without acting unlawfully. Such activity is not lawful under the current framework.
Three approaches
Speaking at the C&binet creative industries conference, Lord Mandelson called for a three-pronged approach:
Working with ISPs and the creative industries to educate consumers that unlawful file-sharing is not a victimless act and is a genuine threat to the creative industries.
The development of commercial models by rights holders in collaboration with Internet Service Providers to offer digital content legitimately, and at the best price for consumers.
A thorough notification process, backed by the possibility of imposing technical measures, aimed at those who persistently engage in unlawful file-sharing.
Lord Mandelson also reassured ISPs that they would not be expected to bear the full cost of implementing and delivering the notifications to suspected infringers.
A flat fee per notification will be set, payable by the rights holder, in a way that provides incentive for both rights holders and ISPs to keep the process efficient and cost effective.
The UK Government will publish its response to the consultation on unlawful peer-to-peer file-sharing in parallel with the Digital Economy Bill, in late November.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Lord Mandelson has called on ISPs and the creative industries to work with Government to ensure a package is put in place which balances education, enforcement and new business models to discourage unlawful file downloading.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14256/

Music download service acts local, but has a global vision.

29.10.2009

The rapidly emerging music service Downloadmusic.ie is bringing more than 1,500 Irish recording artists to a global market. Its founder, Johnny Beirne, explains the genesis of the service.
What is the inspiration behind Downloadmusic.ie and how does it work?
The idea is to help unsigned artists and independent labels sell their music at gigs, on buses, or wherever. Somebody sends a text message the moment they hear a song they like.
We have over 1,500 artists in Ireland. More than 10 a week are signing up to our service in Ireland, and about three or four per week in the UK where our service is called Textatrack.co.uk. Our strategy is to act local but to go global.
Last week, Google revealed it was launching a music search service. Do you see this as a threat or an opportunity?
Google wants to make everything in the world searchable and, with the amount of music now online, I’m surprised they haven’t done it before now. Is it a threat? Certainly not, it’s another avenue to sell music.
We’ve also linked up with music sites such as Last.fm and Lala, which makes music playable in a web browser. We’re looking for partnerships all the time because there are no sites in the world doing what we are doing.
How does the Downloadmusic.ie service actually work?
We focus on the text message as a payment mechanism to capture the moment of opportunity. Supposing you were at a gig and a band has put flyers or put instructions on their bus and if the audience likes the music they are playing they just text the code for that song to 57501 and their phone is charged €1.
You can have the track downloaded onto your computer at home or straight to your mobile phone if it has an MP3 player on it.
Do you think this model will make it better for bands to monetise?
If you are a band and you announce a song on the stage, your fans can download it on the spot from the internet, whereas in the past they would have bought bootlegs outside or they would have tried to remember the name of the song and searched for it when they got home.
For independent bands, and even for majors, it’s a call to action on the spot. Just text a message and you get the benefit of the impulse buyer.
How is the international expansion of Downloadmusic.ie going?
We’ve been in the UK since September last year and we’re planning to launch into mainland Europe quite soon. We are also planning to launch our Textatrack.com service in the US, but because the networks are managed differently there we need to get individual approval from each of the mobile carriers.
Are mobile operators happy to split revenue with artists?
The problem is the mobile operators tend to take the lion’s share of the revenue. In Ireland it is 60pc, while in the UK it is 40pc and the artist gets 31pc.
Around 90pc of our sales are by SMS. We are registered with both the Irish and UK charts, which is a big attraction for our services because people can buy online music without owning a credit card.
We’ve gone from selling 100 songs a month to hundreds a day and our site gets one million hits a month.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Johnny Beirne, founder of Downloadmusic.ie.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14250/

Google strikes deals with MySpace, Rhapsody and Lala to make search musical.

29.10.2009

Search giant Google has gone live with its new music-search feature and has struck partnership deals with MySpace, iLike, Rhapsody, Pandora, imeem and Lala to provide a search service that also includes audio previews of a song.
Google says the new service not only makes search better but also helps users discover new sources of licensed music.
“If you’re searching for music, ‘time to result’ is really ‘time to music’,” explained Murali Viswanathan, product manager with Google. “Now, when you enter a music-related query — like the name of a song, artist or album — your search results will include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by our music-search partners MySpace (which just acquired iLike) or Lala.
“When you click the result you’ll be able to listen to an audio preview of the song directly from one of those partners. For example, if I search for (21st Century Breakdown), the first results provide links to songs from Green Day’s new album. MySpace and Lala also provide links to purchase the full song.”
Find that catchy tune
The trouble of finding a song you like that you’ve heard on the radio but don’t know its title or the artist’s name should be eradicated through the new service, which allows you to find the song by entering a line or two of lyrics.
Google has also partnered with Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody to include links to their sites, where you can discover music related to your queries, as well.
“This feature doesn't just make search better,” said Google software engineer Ganesh Ramanarayanan.
“It also helps people discover new sources of licensed music online while helping artists to discover new generations of fans and reconnect with long-time listeners.
“Of course, this is just a first step toward making search more musical. There’s a lot of music out there in the world, and in some instances, we may not return links to the song you're looking for.
“But by combining the strength of Google's search algorithms with our music-search partners’ efforts to increase the comprehensiveness of their music content, we're on track to answer more of your rhymes with the right rhythms,” Ramanarayanan explained.
First stop: America
Google will be rolling the service out in the US first and has not yet elaborated on when the service will be globally available.
The advent of a search service that directs users towards licensed music should be a boon to a music industry that has been pummelled by illegal file sharing and piracy.
Yesterday, the UK’s business secretary Lord Mandelson revealed tough new rules that will counter illegal file-sharing. He pointed out that just one in every 20 songs downloaded on the internet is actually a licensed song.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Results of Google searches on music-related queries are to include links to an audio preview of those songs provided by Google's music-search partners.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14259/

Digital TV failure is dimming the rise of Ireland’s broadband star.

30.10.2009

Ireland looks set to be a laggard in digital terrestrial television (DTT), as well as broadband, and even the EU is urging Ireland to get into gear on DTT, said Labour spokesperson on communications Liz McManus.
McManus called on Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan to address the ongoing delays in implementing DTT in Ireland as a matter of urgency following calls from the EU Commission to speed up the move to DTT.
Deputy McManus said: “The delay in implementing digital TV in Ireland is adversely affecting our ability to upgrade and improve our broadband provision in this country.
“Time and again, international and EU reports have placed Ireland bottom of the table for broadband quality, cost and provision. The move to digital TV could have a real impact on our broadband provision.”
Autumn 2009 start
In August last year, Ryan said Ireland’s digital switchover would begin in autumn 2009. Yet there is little indication anything has happened.
McManus pointed to research that indicates Ireland is languishing at the bottom the DTT table.
Five countries have completed the switch-over with a further six countries due for completion by 2010 or earlier. Of the EU 27, Ireland is one of only two countries that has no firm plans available for the switch-over to DTT and is set to miss the 2012 switch-over target set by the commission.
“The delay in implementing digital TV in Ireland is adversely affecting our ability to upgrade and improve our broadband provision in this country."
- Labour spokesperson on communications Liz McManus
The UK has already begun the first stages of its digital TV switch-over with homes in Wales moving to the new technology. This means viewers in the southeast of the country may no longer receive UK TV stations on ordinary terrestrial TV.
“Last May, our DTT plans were in flux after the Boxer consortium pulled out, blaming the changed economic conditions, having not signed the contract eight months after it was offered the tender. It is now six months since the latest consortium, OneVision was offered the tender and there has been no update on when a contract will be signed and where our DTT future lies.
“Yesterday, the European Commission stated that the airwaves, which will be freed up from the move from analogue TV to digital TV, referred to as the digital dividend, would make ‘broadband for all’ a reality across Europe," McManus added.
Need for speed
“The EU Commissioner for Information Society, Viviane Reding, has called on EU countries to speed up the move to digital TV, which she outlined will bring wireless broadband where high-speed internet cannot be provided efficiently by other technologies," McManus said.
“She also stated that this 'digital dividend' will offer opportunities for new operators and new services and will have a positive impact on the economy. The benefits across Europe could give be worth from €20 billion to €50 billion, according to the commission.
“The minister must provide an update immediately on whether this contract is to be signed in the near future. It is an urgent matter for Ireland's digital future and for our ability to take up on the significant benefits from the digital dividend.
“Ireland has been trailing behind in broadband provision and we must not now be left in the dark in relation to the EU-wide digital switch-over plan. I am tabling a Parliamentary Question to the minister on this issue,” McManus said.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Ireland is one of only two EU countries that has no firm plans available for the switch-over to digital terrestrial television and may miss the 2012 switch-over target set by the EU Commission.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14271/

Satellite broadband can bridge digital divide for firms, Digiweb says.

29.10.2009

Digiweb has identified 8,169 businesses and organisations in Cork, Tipperary, Kerry, Clare and Meath that struggle to access the internet and has unveiled a new 10Mbps satellite technology that will cover 100pc of the country by 2010.
The 8,169 organisations in the broadband blackspots are mainly small businesses in rural areas. Many of those identified are involved in the retail, tourism and agribusiness sectors.
This research follows a recently published report from the National Competitiveness Council that ranked Ireland in 12th position in the EU -15 for broadband penetration.
The counties
Counties with the highest numbers of organisations in areas struggling to access the internet via broadband technology are Cork (1,071), Tipperary (712), Kerry (662), Clare (653) and Meath (494).
Satellite-broadband technology, said Declan Campbell, chief operations officer of Digiweb, is now seen as an integral part of the overall digital strategy for many of these counties.
In May this year, Digiweb launched its new satellite-broadband service 'Digiweb Tooway', which offers download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps to all of its satellite customers. With a major new satellite infrastructure upgrade program planned, Digiweb will increase the speeds to 10Mbps throughout all areas of Ireland later in 2010.
“With much of Ireland's future growth dependent on the digital economy, it's essential that all organisations nationwide have access to high-quality internet connectivity,” Campbell explained.
“Dial-up and mobile broadband can provide alternative options for a limited number of companies, but poor signal strength, disconnection problems and slow download rates are all common problems experienced by users of these technologies.
“For businesses seeking to take advantage of web applications that can enhance business performance or even those that just want to use services, such as online business banking, it's essential that they have secure, always-on, high-quality broadband.
“The demand for satellite broadband has been phenomenal so far, particularly from organisations and residents in rural areas, with restricted or no internet access. With our research showing that more than 8,000 small businesses are currently under served, we expect the market for satellite technology to continue its high growth rate,” Campbell added.
Broadband-network coverage
The research was carried out by Digiweb in September 2009 and the information was generated following a comprehensive and detailed study of all broadband-network coverage cross-referenced with the national GeoDirectory database of Irish organisations.
Broadband "black spots" were identified as businesses and organisations not covered by either suitable lines for DSL broadband, fixed-wireless broadband or mobile-broadband technologies.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14262/
By John Kennedy
Photo: Declan Campbell, chief operations officer of Digiweb.

Google Prepares Music Search Service (Updated)

By Eliot Van Buskirk
October 21, 2009
10:18 am

Google plans to launch a music service, Wired.com has confirmed with sources familiar with the situation. Next to nothing is known about the service at this point, rumored to be called “Google Music,” “Google Audio,” or “One Box,” although we have confirmed that it will be announced next Wednesday, and that it will link out to two music services: Lala and iLike.
Google will not become a music retailer itself, but will offer enhanced music search with a streaming function — first of possibly several vertical search offerings. Searching for an artist or song will apparently bring up a box (thus Google’s working title: “One Box”) with a streaming link randomly assigned to stream songs from either Lala or iLike, the latter of which was acquired by MySpace in August.
Lala, iLike, “and others” will announce the service next Wednesday at Capital Records Music in Hollywood, California, with musical guests OneRepublic plus members of Linkin Park and Dead by Sunrise.
The RSVP on the invitation (right) links to an e-mail address at secure online event registration company Paragon New Media, which lists Google as a client. After spotting that, we confirmed with a source close to the situation that Google’s upcoming music service will be announced at the event.
Google’s music search service, whatever it ends up being called, will include music from all four major labels and, most likely, all of the indie content on iLike and Lala (as one insider put it, it would be harder to remove a subset of songs from those services than to let Google simply index all of it).
iLike currently streams some songs as 30-second samples and others as full-length songs, and sells MP3s for the usual prices. Lala allows registered users to stream complete songs and albums once, for free, after which point they can buy streaming songs 10 cents that can be credited to the purchase of the full download. At this point, it’s not clear how these services will behave when presented through Google’s search interface.
Google has yet to respond to our requests for comment. The company is also building the back-end for the majors’ upcoming Vevo music video service, and operates a free download service in China that TechCrunch says will not resemble whatever Google launches here in the U.S. and possibly elsewhere as well.
After this music search product launches next Wednesday, we understand that Google plans to release other search verticals, possibly including a travel booking service.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/google-preparing-music-service/

Twitter partners with Google and Microsoft

22.10.2009

Both Microsoft and Google agree that real-time search is one of the most exciting things happening on the net right now, and to this end both companies have partnered with Twitter to include the micro-blogging site’s status updates, or "tweets", in their search results, as announced at the Web 2.0 summit.
Twitter, says Marissa Mayer, vice-president of Search Products and User Experience at Google, is “not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.”
Twitter for breaking news
This will come as no surprise to the Twitterers who have been flocking to their favourite site not only as a means of keeping in touch with friends but also for breaking news.
An example of this was the death of pop star Michael Jackson (which caused down-time for Google), where not only the news of his passing broke on Twitter but also subsequent updates were found sooner on the microblogging site.
“We've partnered with Google to index the entire world of public tweets as fast as possible and present them to their users in an organised and relevant fashion,” said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.
Joined forces
Microsoft is also joining forces with Twitter to add real-time search result to its Bing search engine but this is actually a fully-realised version of what Bing had already been testing.
Previously, Bing had incorporated real-time results of a select number of Twitter accounts from celebrity Twitterers, so this progression is simply the logical conclusion of its trail phase.
The main difference between Bing and Google is that while Google is planning to seamlessly incorporate Twitter results into the main search results (won’t this get noisy?), Bing is keeping it as a compartmentalised search – Bing Twitter search – which is already available in the US and will be rolled out to other countries soon.
'Tweakable' search
This specialised search will also be "tweakable": “If you want to keep an eye on this topic, you can just watch the tweets roll in. Or, click on ‘See more Tweets about …’ to go to a page full of tweets. On that page, you can change the ordering to 'Best Match.' Here we arrange tweets differently. If someone has a lot of followers, his/her tweet may get ranked higher,” says Paul Yiu and the Bing Social Search Team on the official Bing blog.
By Marie Boran
Photo: Twitter's tweets will be included in Google and Microsoft Bing's search results

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14210/

Revolution in media and politics to dominate Dublin Web Summit

21.10.2009

The impact of the internet on news media as well as on the political landscape as politicians take to blogging and Twittering with gusto, will be discussed by some of Europe’s leading bloggers, political masterminds and journalists in Dublin next week.
The Dublin Web Summit is the brainchild of Patrick Cosgrave, co-founder of the MiCandidate political social networking site and creator of the 'Rock the Vote' initiative during the last general elections.
The conference, which takes place in Dublin next Friday, 30 October, will feature major political web pundits as well as web strategists behind some of the most brilliant online political campaigns and initiatives of recent years.
These include the creator of the ‘Web Cameron’ campaign, the deputy editor of Wired Magazine and senior online editors from The Telegraph and The Independent.
Media as it changes
The conference will also look at the changing role of media and news being brought about by the Web 2.0 revolution.
Jimmy Leach, online editorial director at the Independent.co.uk, is the former head of former British prime minister Tony Blair’s digital communications operation. He oversaw the launch of the Downing Street petitions website, was director of digital at public relations agency Freud and previously worked for the Guardian's website, guardian.co.uk.
“The roles of journalists are changing. In London, there are more than two or three daily papers, there are TV screens all over railway stations and media is pushed at you, whether it’s radio, TV, you name it. It is difficult to avoid knowing what’s happening. So the role of journalist in a major media brand isn’t one of what’s happened, it is 'here’s what’s happening and why we should be thinking about it.' It’s a different process and it's about adding something of more value.”
Alberto Nardelli is the co-founder and director of tweetminster.co.uk, a service that uses the power of Twitter to let people follow and connect with Members of Parliament and UK politics. His work has been awarded and covered across numerous media, and he has spoken around the world on the power of social media.
“Politicians are growing up very quickly with social media in the UK. When we launched Tweetminster in December there were only four MPs with Twitter accounts, now there are 83,” Nardelli said. “Because Westminister is such a close-knit community, it has meant that word of mouth is now spreading faster than before.
"I spoke to a shadow cabinet member recently and he reads all the news in the Westminister bubble on Twitter and finds it to be a powerful tool. As a politician, being ahead of the curve is important, but so, too, is connecting people.
“I don’t think Twitter competes with journalism as analysis, but where it does compete is on the news side. It certainly makes the news cycle quicker. Not only does it break stories but the story spreads much more quickly,” Nardelli explained.
Speakers at The Dublin Web Summit
Also among the lineup of speakers at the summit next week are:
Rishi Saha, the head of the Conservative Party’s award-winning online operations. Rishi is credited as the man behind David Cameron's online invention ‘Web Cameron’ and was also responsible for one of the UK’s most successful web virals ‘Pimp my Party’. Recently named one of London’s 1000 Most Influential People by the Evening Standard, Rishi is also a frequent media performer for the BBC and Sky.
Julian March is the executive producer of the Sky News website. Previously, he edited Sky's breakfast show Sunrise, where he broke the news of the London bombings, and then moved on to Live at Five with Jeremy Thompson. In 2005, he won a Royal Television Society (RTS) Award for Innovation for an on-screen ticker allowing survivors of the Asian tsunami to get a message home to loved ones.
Ian Douglas is head of digital production for the Telegraph Media Group. As well as helping to turn the Telegraph from a newspaper with a website into a modern news organisation, he writes about technology, especially its role in culture, and political uses. He spent two months in a windowless room earlier this year working on MPs' expenses.
Political blogger
Iain Dale is Britain’s leading political blogger. Iain also writes for The Spectator, the New Statesman, the House Magazine and Parliamentary Monitor, as well as contributing weekly to The Guardian’s Comment is Free. He is a newspaper reviewer for both Sky News and the BBC News Channel, and appears regularly on the BBC’s Today and Newsnight programmes.
Stephen Clark is head of web for the European Parliament. His main focus in 2009 has been on the design and delivery of the Parliament's online communications campaign for the European elections in June 2009, both on and off the website. Stephen’s team is also responsible for the daily publication of news headlines on the Parliament's website in 22 languages.
All Wired up
Ben Hammersley is deputy editor of Wired UK Magazine. Between 2004 and 2006, he designed, built, and maintained the weblogs of The Guardian, including Comment is Free. He has authored six technical books and programmers' guides, including books on blogging and social media. Ben coined the term "podcasting."
Bill Edwards is “a global leader in customer-facing government,” according to the World Bank. He was the chief architect of Directgov and is leading the development of a new online One Stop Portal for the Hong Kong government. Bill is the managing partner of the Gov3 Foundation, and a former managing director of Directgov. He is also an expert adviser to the World Bank on eGovernment.
Nick Blunden is managing director at Profero UK. Profero is the world's leading independent digital communications group. It has 15 offices globally, including offices in London, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. Clients include COI, Diageo, IKEA, Johnson & Johnson, Lufthansa, MINI and Western Union.
EU work
Niels Thogersen is the former director of communications for the European Commission. He is the founding member of the European Communications Academy and vice-president of the Club of Venice, comprising all of the directors of communication in the governments of the 27 EU member states and the EU candidate countries. His specialist area is new media.
Benoit Thieulin was who was appointed head of new media to the French prime minister in 2001. In 2005, he was appointed by the European Commission as head of the European Information Centre. In 2007, he led the web campaign of socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal. In June 2007, Benoit and four other associates created La Netscouade.
By John Kennedy
Photo: The Dublin Web Summit is the brainchild of Patrick Cosgrave, co-founder of the MiCandidate political social networking site and creator of the Rock the Vote initiative during the last general elections.

Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave.

5/28/2009 09:15:00 AM

Back in early 2004, Google took an interest in a tiny mapping startup called Where 2 Tech, founded by my brother Jens and me. We were excited to join Google and help create what would become Google Maps. But we also started thinking about what might come next for us after maps.As always, Jens came up with the answer: communication. He pointed out that two of the most spectacular successes in digital communication, email and instant messaging, were originally designed in the '60s to imitate analog formats — email mimicked snail mail, and IM mimicked phone calls. Since then, so many different forms of communication had been invented — blogs, wikis, collaborative documents, etc. — and computers and networks had dramatically improved. So Jens proposed a new communications model that presumed all these advances as a starting point, and I was immediately sold. (Jens insists it took him hours to convince me, but I like my version better.)We had a blast the next couple years turning Where 2's prototype mapping site into Google Maps. But finally we decided it was time to leave the Maps team and turn Jens' new idea into a project, which we codenamed "Walkabout." We started with a set of tough questions:
Why do we have to live with divides between different types of communication — email versus chat, or conversations versus documents?
Could a single communications model span all or most of the systems in use on the web today, in one smooth continuum? How simple could we make it?
What if we tried designing a communications system that took advantage of computers' current abilities, rather than imitating non-electronic forms? After months holed up in a conference room in the Sydney office, our five-person "startup" team emerged with a prototype. And now, after more than two years of expanding our ideas, our team, and technology, we're very eager to return and see what the world might think. Today we're giving developers an early preview of Google Wave.

A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.Here's how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.

As with Android, Google Chrome, and many other Google efforts, we plan to make the code open source as a way to encourage the developer community to get involved. Google Wave is very open and extensible, and we're inviting developers to add all kinds of cool stuff before our public launch. Google Wave has three layers: the product, the platform, and the protocol:
The Google Wave product (available as a developer preview) is the web application people will use to access and edit waves. It's an HTML 5 app, built on Google Web Toolkit. It includes a rich text editor and other functions like desktop drag-and-drop (which, for example, lets you drag a set of photos right into a wave).
Google Wave can also be considered a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services, and to build new extensions that work inside waves.
The Google Wave protocol is the underlying format for storing and the means of sharing waves, and includes the "live" concurrency control, which allows edits to be reflected instantly across users and services. The protocol is designed for open federation, such that anyone's Wave services can interoperate with each other and with the Google Wave service. To encourage adoption of the protocol, we intend to open source the code behind Google Wave. So, this leaves one big question we need your help answering: What else can we do with this?If you're a developer and you'd like to roll up your sleeves and start working on Google Wave with us, you can read more on the Google Wave Developer blog about the Google Wave APIs, and check out the Google Code blog to learn more about the Google Wave Federation Protocol. If you'd like to be notified when we launch Google Wave as a public product, you can sign up at http://wave.google.com/. We don't have a specific timeframe for public release, but we're planning to continue working on Google Wave for a number of months more as a developer preview. We're excited to see what feedback we get from our early tinkerers, and we'll undoubtedly make lots of changes to the Google Wave product, platform, and protocol as we go.We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/went-walkabout-brought-back-google-wave.html

Social networking booming with doubling of online profiles

Facebook is the most viewed site in Britain, according to Ofcom research
Richard Wray
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 October 2009 00.05 BST

The online social networking boom shows no signs of abating, with almost twice as many British internet users having an online profile than two years ago, helping to make Facebook the most viewed website in the UK, according to new research.
As more people, especially older people, are getting online, they are experimenting with social networking and blogging, according to regulator Ofcom. More people are using the internet to create their own content than ever before with 38% of online users having a social networking profile, compared with 22% in 2007.
There has, however, been a drop-off in the number of people who regularly use the web to find information for their work or study – from 48% two years ago to 35% – while the economic downturn has also led to a drop in the number of British consumers who go online to buy goods.
But it is not just people with a profile who are looking at social networking sites. Ofcom's survey of adult media literacy shows that some 41% of web users look at a social networking site daily, compared with 30% two years ago, to keep up with family and friends. After a host of scare stories, meanwhile, web users are becoming more aware of who can see their profiles with three quarters of those who have one, saying it can only be seen by family and friends - up from 48% in 2007.
The watchdog's latest audit of the nation's digital habits comes as web traffic watcher Experian Hitwise will today publish its latest research into social networking. It shows that Facebook now accounts for one in every seven internet page views in the UK.
Visits to Facebook have increased by 86.1% over the last year, according to Experian Hitwise. While more individual people visit Google, the number of page views received by Facebook makes it the most viewed website in the UK.
"During September Facebook was the second most visited website in the UK after Google UK," explained Robin Goad, Director of Research for Experian Hitwise in the UK. "But because users view a much larger number of pages per visit, Facebook is the clear leader in terms of page views. During September, Facebook received more page views than Google UK, eBay UK and YouTube combined."
UK internet visits to Facebook have more than doubled over the last 14 months, according to Experian Hitwise, and during September it accounted for 49.2% of all UK internet visits to a social networking website.
"Although it has fallen somewhat off the media radar in favour of Twitter recently, Facebook remains far and away the most popular social networking website in the UK," Goad added.
It also shows little sign of waning in popularity. Experian Hitwise looks at the average time a person spends on the site. Rivals such as Friends Reunited and MySpace have seen 'average session times' drop off, which then led to a reduction in visitor numbers. But Facebook has yet to experience this problem: Hitwise monitoring data showed that its average visit time increased from 19 minutes 59 seconds in September 2008 to 26 minutes 14 seconds during September 2009.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/16/social-netwrkign-facebook-internet

Twitter hits 5 billionth tweet

20.10.2009

"Oh lord."
Those two words reportedly make up Twitter's 5 billionth tweet, posted by Robin Sloan of San Francisco, California, on Monday, 19 October.
Sloan, a former Current Media executive, was replying to another user, and a third-party app, Gigatweet, which has been measuring the microblogging site's tweet count for awhile, clocked his reply as the 5 billionth posting.
Sloan has dubbed his milestone tweet "The Pentagigatweet." It contains the number 5,000,000,000 in the URL, which is apparently the running count of tweets that have posted up until that point.
Photo: Gigatweet, showing the number of tweets on Twitter have surpassed the 5-billion mark.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14189/

Internet heavyweights push net neutrality

19.10.2009

Ahead of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proceedings this Thursday that will determine new rules for how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) control internet access, 24 CEOs and founders associated with web companies, including Facebook, Google, Amazon and Twitter, have put their names to an FCC-bound letter, urging it to adopt rules that will “preserve an open internet”.
The letter to the independent US government agency expresses support for the FCC’s announcement that it will begin a process for adopting rules to preserve an open internet, stating this environment “fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail. This allows businesses of all sizes, from the smallest start-up to larger corporations, to compete, yielding maximum economic growth and opportunity.”
The letter was signed by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Digg co-founders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Executives from LinkedIn, Skype, eBay, YouTube, Mozilla and TiVo also put their names to the letter.
This letter follows opposing net neutrality views in the past few weeks, including a letter sent to the FCC last week from 72 members of the US congress asking that it "reiterate" an historic commitment to a "restrained regulatory approach".
By Marie Boran
Photo: Two dozen CEOs and founders of web companies have added their names to a letter for the Federal Communications Commission, urging it to adopt rules that will "preserve an open internet".

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14172/

Ireland’s first all-virtual chartered accountancy practice

19.10.2009

This month, Hardie Brown & Co will become the first virtual chartered accountancy practice in Ireland, using the internet to bring real-time accountancy services to clients.
“Hardie Brown & Co understands the importance of SMEs in Ireland and their critical role in the future success of the Irish economy," said Gael Hardie-Brown, principal.
“It is the specific needs of SMEs we are seeking to address. Why should this critical sector lack high-quality advice and analysis essential to their success? With the increased acceptance of online business services, Hardie Brown & Co provides a much-needed solution," said Hardie-Brown.
Irish SMEs represent about 99pc of private enterprises in Ireland with more than 700,000 employees or nearly 67pc of the private-sector workforce (30pc in enterprises with less than 10 employees, 20pc with less than 50 employees and 17pc with less than 250 workers). About 50pc of the Irish private-sector workforce is employed in micro and small enterprises.
In the last six months, Irish companies have seen a significant deterioration in their financial strength (78pc reporting a fall in turnover and profit), and with continuing reliance on the banking sector to provide critical funds (39pc received funding from banks in the last two years of which 64pc has been used for working capital), the need for SMEs to have relevant, current financial information is key to their future prospects.
“There are a handful of Irish Chartered Accountancy firms that offer online web-based accounting solutions as part of their offering but this is the first that has embraced a fully online solution. As a firm, we will provide all our services through the web - all the client needs is a laptop and access to the internet.
"With the adoption of broadband increasing every day, now is the time for the SME sector to embrace the full possibilities that such access brings," explained Hardie-Brown.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Hardie Brown & Co clients now just need a laptop and internet access to avail of its services.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14162/

Cullen rejects McCarthy report's proposal to scrap artists' exemption

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

by RONAN McGREEVY

MARTIN CULLEN, Minister for Arts, Tourism and Sport, has said he will not scrap the artists’ exemption as proposed by the Commission on Taxation.
The commission said the exemption was “deadweight” as those who benefited from it would have been involved in artistic activity anyway. It also concluded that it was unfair.
Mr Cullen described as “nonsense” the suggestion that the exemption costs the exchequer between €36 million and €38 million every year.
He said that figure pertained to 2006, the year before a €250,000 cap was put on the exemption, and the cost to the exchequer since has been “minuscule”.
“It is really important to point out that it is a statement by Ireland about how it treasures its artistic community and what it means for our country home and abroad. It is very important that we value this,” he told presenter Vincent Woods on yesterday’s Arts Tonight programme on RTÉ Radio 1.
Mr Cullen dismissed the McCarthy report, which recommended the abolition of his department, the Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland, as a “mathematical exercise”.
“He’s [report author Colm McCarthy] not elected, he doesn’t represent people, he’s not in the fulcrum of policy formulation,” he explained.
Too many aspects of the report were drawing a line over a figure without looking at the policy that underpinned it.
The Minister said earmarking the Irish Film Board for closure was an “horrific approach”. He had fought to keep the 100 per cent tax exemption last year because it helped to generate a €150 million industry.
Both it and Culture Ireland, which promote and advance Irish arts internationally, generated “far, far greater return” for the State than the money put into it in the first place.
He did, however, say that the arts community would have to endure cutbacks like every other part of society, but he declined to be drawn on where those cuts would come. Opposition to the McCarthy proposals is growing in the artistic community. The National Campaign for the Arts has been set up to campaign against the cuts.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0929/1224255442132.html

Licensing gets Groovy on the Web

New website offers licensing database for industry
By CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

After four years of R&D, Sir Groovy, a one-stop music licensing and clearance search engine, has gone live on the Web.
Employing proprietary musicDNA software, the website offers a database of 10,000 pre-cleared tunes from 50 countries for instant licensing to film, TV ads and videogames. Company touts its services as an alternative to laborious song clearances and use of production music.
Project is backed by Wall Street players: founder/CEO Vic Sarjoo, ex-CEO of the Radical Funds, and Harold Vogel, former head of entertainment and media at brokerage Merrill Lynch and possibly the best-known and most-quoted music biz analyst. Co-founder Michael Vassar led company's research team.
Sarjoo said the exchange is designed to enable producers to "locate music more quickly and license it with extremely lower transaction costs." Company's clients include Fox Searchlight Pictures, Discovery Channel, MTV Networks, ESPN and CBS.
Several top music supervisors who acted as pre-startup advisers now hold a stake in the firm. They include Greg Sill ("Friends," "Full House," "ER"), Lakeshore Entertainment music exec Brian McNelis, PJ Bloom ("Glee," "CSI: Miami") and Janet Billig Rich, creator of the Broadway musical "Rock of Ages."
David Leibowitz, former exec VP-general counsel for the RIAA is serving as Sir Groovy chairman.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009935.html?categoryId=1009&cs=1&nid=2248

Radio royalty bill clears Senate hurdle

Bennett, Bono, Crow embroiled in fight
By TED JOHNSON

An effort to pass a bill requiring broadcasters to pay performers when their music is played over the air cleared another hurdle Thursday as the legislation gained approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The legislation has triggered a bitter fight that has pitted artists and the recording industry, backed by a star-studded list of lobbying performers like Tony Bennett, Bono and Sheryl Crow, against broadcasters, who have not minced words in stating their opposition over the airwaves. Each side has amassed a bipartisan list of lawmakers to make their case.
A similar Performance Rights bill was passed by the House Judiciary Committee in May, although it is unclear when the legislation will come to a floor vote in either chamber. The Senate Judiciary Committee's approval came in a voice vote, and some senators indicated that they wanted to continue to work on a few items to refine the bill.
Jennifer Bendall, executive director of the MusicFirst Coalition, which is leading the lobbying effort in support of the legislation, said they are "making unprecedented progress."
"Two congressional committees have now approved a bill to create a fair performance right on radio. We ask broadcasters and the new leadership at the NAB to join with us," she said.
The effort to pass such a bill extends back generations, and the victory in the Judiciary Committee is a significant step forward as previous efforts have stalled.
Broadcasters argue that such payments will be devastating to stations already struggling in a sluggish ad market, and that it ignores the promotional value that free radio airplay provides.
Countering the Judiciary Committee approval of the bill, the National Assn. of Broadcasters on Thursday unveiled the results of a poll it conducted through Wilson Research Strategies showing some 75% of likely voters do not support a "performance fee," although MusicFirst has objected to the way that the broadcast lobby has characterized the legislation as akin to a tax. The NAB also says 251 House lawmakers and 26 senators have signed a competing resolution, the Local Radio Freedom Act, which opposes any new royalties placed on radio stations.
NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said in a statement, "Simply put, a performance tax is bad for free, local radio. It's bad for radio's 235 million weekly listeners. And it's bad for the legions of new and legacy artists whose careers were launched and nurtured by free radio airplay."
Artists are not compensated when their songs are played over the airwaves, but songwriters are. And performers also receive royalties when their music is played on satellite and Internet radio.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who introduced the bill in February along with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), said in a statement, "We will still have a lot of work to do and I strongly encourage the National Assn. of Broadcasters to work with us, work with the artists and the music industry, and help us reach an agreement that protects broadcasters while ensuring that artists are compensated fairly."
Leahy and Hatch introduced an amendment that allows smaller and noncommercial radio stations to pay a flat fee based on their gross revenues, an effort to address concerns that the Performance Rights Act would force some broadcasters off the air or into the red.
Leahy's amendment also includes provisions to ensure the legislation doesn't cut into the existing royalties for songwriters, as well as another provision to make sure that artists "actually receive their share of royalties when their music is played." Record labels also would receive a share of the royalties under the bill.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010024.html?categoryId=16&cs=1&nid=2248

Channel 4 signs content deal with YouTube

Published Thursday 15 October 2009 at 14:59 by Matthew Hemley

Channel 4 programmes are to become available free of charge on YouTube, marking the first time a broadcaster anywhere in the world has made full-length programmes accessible on the video-sharing website.

Under the terms of the deal, Channel 4 will make its own catch-up service, 4oD, available via YouTube, with programmes on offer including Skins, Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners and Peep Show.
YouTube users will also be able to access around 3,000 hours of full length programming from the Channel 4 archive, including shows like Brass Eye and Teachers.
Content will begin appearing in the coming months and be fully available in early 2010. All programmes will be available only in the UK, free-of-charge supported by advertising.
The partnership runs for at least three years, and the two parties will share advertising revenues.
Channel 4 said the deal would “create significant value for Channel 4 and its independent production partners, generating additional revenue to invest in creating high quality, original content”.
Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan said: “This strategic partnership is another important milestone for us and we’re delighted to be combining the power of the 4 brand and the appeal of our content with YouTube’s unrivalled reach and reputation online.”

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/25895/channel-4-signs-content-deal-with-youtube

Tories to launch Spotify ad campaign

Forty-second Spotify ad makes Conservatives the first UK political party to exploit internet music service
Mark Sweney
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 October 2009 07.13 BST
Photograph: Martin Argles

The Conservatives are to become the first UK political party to run a marketing campaign on the internet music service Spotify, in a bid to target the hard-to-reach youth audience.
A 40-second ad for the party will launch next Wednesday on the fast-growing peer-to-peer music streaming service. The ad, which will run for one week, features the Conservative party chairman, Eric Pickles, speaking on the issue of debt, backed by a message that Spotify users should vote Tory at the next general election.
The campaign is thought to be the first to be run by a political party on Spotify. The service's ability to target listeners by postcode means that the Tories may use the service more extensively as the election draws closer, to deliver local messages to voters.
One key aim of the campaign is to target web-savvy younger voters, many of whom may not be traditional Tory supporters, and it also allows the party to skirt political advertising rules that apply to traditional media.
UK political parties cannot advertise on TV or radio outside of election broadcasts in the run-up to a general election.
"We are always looking for new and relevant ways of engaging with people, and I think this Spotify advert adds to an already strong track record of being early adopters when it comes to online communication," said the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt. "The growth of Spotify in the UK has been phenomenal. We were particularly impressed with its advertising model and its potential for political campaigning."
The Conservatives have been pressing forward on the digital campaigning front. Earlier this month the party launched a campaigning website that it claimed was the most advanced of its kind, except that which helped carry Barack Obama to the White House.
And late last year the Tories undertook a massive overhaul of the main party website, Conservatives.com, the biggest in seven years. In 2006 the Conservatives launched a viral ad campaign called "the inner tosser", which also aimed to target younger voters.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/16/conservative-spotify-campaign-election

Fugitive caught after updating his status on Facebook

Maxi Sopo told his Facebook friends, including a former justice department official, he was living in paradise in Mexico
Alexandra Topping
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 October 2009 12.22 BST
Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP

Some people take to becoming a fugitive like a duck to water. They lie low, go out only in disguise, even create whole new identities. Others, it would appear, do not.
Take the case of Maxi Sopo, a 26-year-old criminal in hiding in Mexico who not only used his Facebook status to tell all and sundry what a good time he was having, but also made the somewhat elementary error of adding a former justice department official to his list of friends.
In status updates from Cancun, where the Cameroon-born fugitive was on the run from charges of bank fraud in Seattle, he said he was "living in paradise" and "loving it".
Michael Scoville, the assistant US attorney who helped find the fugitive, described how Sopo's updates described his lazy days on the beach and wild nights on the town. "He was making posts about how beautiful life is and how he was having a good time with his buddies," Scoville said. "He was definitely not living the way we wanted him to be living, given the charges he was facing."
With spectacular lack of caution, and in capital letters just in case anyone should miss the sentiment, on June 21 he wrote: "LIFE IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!!!! BUT SOME OF US HUMANS MAKE A MESS OF IT ... REMEMBER AM JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE."
Sopo, who arrived in the US in about 2003, made a living selling roses in Seattle nightclubs until, according to prosecutors, he moved on to bank fraud. He apparently drove a rented car to Mexico in late February after learning that federal agents were investigating the fraud scheme.
Investigators scoured social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace but initially could find no trace of him and were unable to pin down his location in Mexico.
Several months later, a secret service agent, Seth Reeg, checked Facebook again and up popped MaxiSopo. His photo showed him partying in front of a backdrop featuring logos of BMW and Courvoisier cognac, sporting a black jacket adorned with a not-so-subtle white lion.
Although Sopo's profile was set to private, his list of friends was not. Scoville started combing through it and was surprised to see that one friend listed an affiliation with the justice department. He sent a message requesting a phone call.
"We figured this was a person we could probably trust to keep our inquiry discreet," Scoville said.
Proving the 2.0 adage that a friend on Facebook is rarely a friend indeed, the former official said he had met Sopo in Cancun's nightclubs a few times, but did not really know him and had no idea he was a fugitive. The official learned where Sopo was living and passed that information back to Scoville, who provided it to Mexican authorities. They arrested Sopo last month.
He had been living in an apartment complex, working at a hotel and partying at Cancun's beaches, pools and nightclubs, Scoville said.
Sopo is accused of masterminding a bank fraud scheme with Edward Asatoorians, who was convicted by a federal jury in Seattle last week. The court heard that the pair persuaded young co-conspirators to lie about their income to get loans to buy imaginary cars, and then used the money to prop up Asatoorians's business and to take an expensive trip to Las Vegas.
Asatoorians is expected to be sentenced to at least five years in prison. If convicted, Sopo could face up to 30 years. Whether the US authorities will allow him to update his status should that happen remains to be seen.
• This article was amended on Friday 16 October 2009. "They lay low" has been corrected to "lie low"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/14/mexico-fugitive-facebook-arrest

Clash of the WiMax and LTE titans: VHS Vs Betamax déjà vous?

17.10.2009

In the looming ‘Battle Royale’ between wireless broadband standards that will supposedly provide us all with uber fast broadband, will WiMax beat LTE to the pass? Or will it be the other way round?
With providers across the world already providing WiMax ‘city-wide hotspot’ technology and Intel set to introduce WiMax chipsets in 2010, is it safe to conclude that Long Term Evolution (LTE) may become a pipe dream?
Not so say some of LTE’s most vehement supporters – mostly 3G mobile operators – who describe WiMax as the “Betamax of the 21st century.”
Both WiMax and LTE claim to be fourth generation (4G) technologies that will provide future broadband consumers with speeds from 8Mbps today to 50Mbps and upwards in the next five years.
The reality is that across the world applications are putting the squeeze on bandwidth and users with services below 3Mbps may soon find their options limited in the evolving internet world.
Proponents of LTE, mainly network manufacturers and 3G mobile broadband operators who claim they just need to do a software upgrade and some infrastructure fixing to be up and running, are vehement in their conviction that LTE is the way to go.
But can it be that simple? Independent network planning consultancy Aircom International revealed the economic reality of LTE migration facing mobile operators around the world – as much as US$1.78 billion for a tier one US operator in the first year. Ouch. Especially at a time when most capital expenditure (capex) is on hold and the consumer electronics industry, not to mention the mobile device business, are in the doldrums.
So can WiMax be the silver bullet for countries where broadband penetration is poor due to geographical and population density?
During the week Imagine which was founded by telecoms entrepreneur Sean Bolger, announced it is to invest €100 million in upgrading its technology, a move that could result in the creation of up to 200 new jobs. In a crowded room at Dublin’s Mansion house and flanked by senior executives from technology giants Intel and Motorola, Bolger said that he plans to cover 90pc of the country by 2012 with WiMax services. At launch it will be available in Dublin, Athlone, Waterford and Sligo.
Bolger said that Imagine’s WiMax service – which will debut at 8Mbps – is capable today of reaching 17Mbps and higher. The pricing for consumers and businesses that will adopt the service will be unveiled next week, but Bolger promises it will come at a lower price than current fixed line broadband services. In front of Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD he pointed out that Ireland has the highest fixed telephone costs in the world and at €25.47 line rental is 70pc higher here than the European average.
“4G broadband is not about speed but being more competitive.” He went on to say that Ireland has plenty of fibre, “now the problem is connecting to that fibre.” Bolger says WiMax could solve that access problem.
One thing is for certain, WiMax has some pretty impressive backers. Last year, US telecoms giants Sprint and Clearwire, as well as tech firms Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks, all agreed to invest $3.2bn in a new mobile broadband company, which will deploy a nationwide WiMax network to provide broadband to consumers and businesses. In Ireland Imagine is being supported by Intel, HP and Motorola.
Intel Ireland general manager Jim O’Hara says that WiMax chips will debut on notebook computers from next year and that these chips will do for WiMax what Centrino did for WiFi. “Six years ago we debuted Centrino chips. People at the time didn’t appreciate the opportunities of using WiFi.” O’Hara went on to say that WiMax could be one of the fundamental building blocks for enabling greater connectivity and bridging the digital divide.
“If you think about the way kids work today, they are all connected to the network. That is the way the world is turning. WiMax is a game-changing technology for how we work, live and play. We can remove the physical geographic barriers and leapfrog ahead.”
Steve McCaffrey, head of Motorola EMEA, said that his company is contracted to deploy 350 WiMax base stations for Imagine by 2012.
“WiMax and LTE will each have a strong future because they will each be important for resolving the access problems where fibre can’t reach the home or premises. Broadband-based applications of the future will demand significant bandwidth. Today’s digital natives, the Millennials, who live online at all times, at home or on the move with the latest wireless devices, have a big appetite for broadband and applications. They won’t tolerate ‘adequate’ connections.”
The man in charge of the global deployment of WiMax chipsets – codenamed ‘Kilmer Peak’ – is a Donegal man called Kevin Jones. “We see these chipsets going into notebooks, netbooks, smart phones and mobile internet devices (MIDs) of all sizes from next year.” Jones pointed to deployments of WiMax around the world including the ISP Yota in Russia which has over 250,000 subscribers using the technology and they are getting a sustained 10Mbps. “The best way to think about WiMax,” adds Jones, “think about Wi-Fi hotspots the size of a city.”
IDA Ireland, in particular, sees the collaboration between big industry giants like Intel and Motorla and with indigenous ISPs as key to resolving Ireland’s digital dilemma. “This investment will add a key piece to our national infrastructure and help drive greater competitiveness in the telecommunications sector,” said CEO Barry O’Leary. “It clearly demonstrates the benefits that accrue to Ireland when multinational and indigenous companies collaborate to develop and roll out key technologies.”
While it is clear that there’s a lot of passion and drive behind WiMax, if it achieves all it promises then it could be an irresistable force.
But what about 3G broadband, the technology that helped to make Ireland’s troubled broadband situation appear respectable. Over a third of broadband the 1.2m broadband connections in this country are mobile broadband via 3G, and the main players in this particular market 3 Ireland, Eircom/Meteor, O2 and Vodafone are all planning to upgrade to 4G Long Term Evolution in the near future.
Indeed if you ask Robert Finnegan, chief executive of 3, 3G in its present form has a very important role to play and will do so for some time. He points out that 3G mobile broadband debuted only three years ago with 1.2Mbps and today can carry speeds of 7.2Mbps. The technology will very soon move to 14.4Mbps and Finnegan believest that before LTE even arrives 3G has the potential to give us speeds of up to 28.8Mbps.
3 has 90pc 3G coverage of the country and earlier this year was awarded the Government’s €220m National Broadband Scheme contract to ensure that the remaining 10pc of Ireland deemed commercially unviable by fixed line operators is connected to broadband. In the past few years 3 and its parent Hutchison Whampoa have invested €600m in their Irish network.
At the Imagine WiMax launch, Bolger was dismissive of 3G arguing that it is not delivering against the speeds claimed by companies. “The average Irish consumer is getting between 1Mbps and 3Mbps if they are lucky. It is a big mistake by the mobile industry to be overselling 3G. They claim speeds of up to 7Mbps – that would be the highest speed at the highest level if you were the only person in the country using it.”
But Finnegan says otherwise: “He [Bolger] doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He would say that because the investment he would need to make to go into 3G right now would be too high. WiMax has been called the Betamax of the telecoms industry.
“3G still has some way to go. We are currently at 7.2Mbps and next year we will go to 14.4Mbps. We work very closely with Nokia Siemens, we are trialing a new technology called iHSPA and it is working extremely well. Another first for Ireland and a first for 3 worldwide.
“The current technology will take us to 14Mbps and after that you are looking at LTE. The technology we have in place is future-proofed for the next four years. LTE will evolve – within two year period we will be looking at 28.8Mbps and higher.”
Moving to LTE Finnegan explains will require a hardware and software upgrade but will cost no where near the US$1.7bn investment that analysts reckon will be typical.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the battle fierce format war between VHS and Betamax video players was anecdotally settled when the porn industry chose the more affordable VHS. Not entirely so; in the end Sony’s proud but rigid stance on OEM licensing was a bridge too far for Betamax. But what will decide the outcome of this particular war?
The answer will be probably be marketing – there are big guns behind WiMax and there are big guns behind LTE. WiMax will get a considerable boost when Intel rolls out the first WiMax chipsets next year, while LTE’s proponents already have vast numbers of people using 3G in its present form.
My view is similar to that of Motorola’s McCaffrey: the applications will drive demand for bandwidth and emerging generations of digital natives will no longer put up with connectivity that is just ‘adequate.’
Or let’s look at it like this: when we built the M50 motorway with just two lanes some bright spark decided that we’d never need more than two lanes. How wrong they were.
By John Kennedy

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/14161/