[Archive] Technology & IT News from around the world

[jB]

Don't install the microsoft update about Genuine Identification Tool or something. It might be harmful for your com

[paiseh]

edited. ..............

[SgBuzz]

update Web 2.0 must serve a business purpose, said Singapore Polytechnic CIO Chang Boon Hai.

 

Web 2.0 tools should not be implemented "for the sake of technology", but to support a business directive, said Chang, who was speaking at an IBM press briefing Wednesday, on the educational institution's planned central online portal for its students.

 

Singapore Polytechnic is in the midst of linking up its disparate backend IT systems into a central portal that will give students an easier mode of accessing school-related information. The polytechnic is also putting in social networking features such as forums and bulletin boards to facilitate conversation.

 

After receiving the directive from the board, to "use the Internet to create exciting services" in order to engage the 4,000 "Gen Y students" who join the polytechnic each year, the IT department found social networking tools would fulfil the board's intended outcome.

 

But the eventual portal would have to live up to industry standards, said Chang.

 

These "Gen Y" users demand online services of a standard similar to what they are used to, such as Facebook, he said.

 

After running a proof of concept in 2007 of possible systems, the school decided to build its portal with IBM WebSphere and Quickr products. It tied six different backend systems, including a student administration system running on PeopleSoft software, Blackboard for its course management system and Microsoft Windows Live for e-mail, he said.

 

The school is currently running a pilot trial of 3,000 students, and is in the midst of procuring new servers for the final roll out, which would affect some 13,000 students come February 2010.

 

New ways to tap public conversation

Singapore-based Donut Empire is also jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. The local chain launched a blog site two weeks ago, after a planning period of six months with its Web design company and IBM, according to its co-founder.

 

Steven Chiew, executive director, Donut Empire, said the company hopes its blog site would make the company more accessible to the public, so they can submit feedback and requests for new donut flavors.

 

Donut Empire also hopes the use of Web 2.0 tools would help it address its business objectives such as communicating with its employees and franchisees, as well as quicken the response time to their questions, said Chiew.

 

The chain, which owns 13 outlets in Singapore, plans to open five more in the country by the end of the year. It is also opening four in Malaysia, one in Dubai, three in Indonesia and another in India, according to Chiew.

 

Referring to a December 2008 study, Michael Barnes, vice president, software and Asia-Pacific research, Springboard Research, said investment in collaboration tools has become a number one priority, up from number five in 2007 and 2008.

 

The survey of 442 organizations in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, found that the need to cut down travel costs--which has become an even greater focus in recent months--has been driving the need for "alternative" methods of communication.

[redbeacon]

The Pirate Bay, Kazaa to become legitimate music subscription service

 

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9666/kazaalogosmall.jpg http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4379/blackpiratebayship.jpg

 

Just weeks after Napster and Pirate Bay decided to right the wrong and morph into legitimate music subscription services (or something of the sort), the infamous and all-but-forgotten Kazaa has evidently decided to do the same. According to "sources close to the company," the site is expected to officially exit beta and begin a $20 per month unlimited download service as early as next week, though details beyond that are few and far between.

 

Pirate Bay to adopt "give-and-take" model, proclaims "P2P and filesharing are our best friends"

 

When the Pirate Bay was suddenly and unexpectedly commandeered by Global Gaming Factory late last month, only a few clues were dropped as to how the new site would proceed as a legally acceptable entity. Now, however, the owners are speaking up, and their business plan sure sounds unorthodox, if not fatuous in nature. In a new report, we're told that the new face of TPB should appear in around a month, and with the refresh will come a handful of "give-and-take" pay models that will somehow please both customers and the top brass within the music industry. Here's how Hans Pandeya, the chief executive of GGF, explains things:

 

"The more you give, the more you get. For the great majority, [the new service] will be free of charge, for a minority it will actually make them money, and for a small portion it will cost them. We know that unless we're able to create revenues for the filesharers they'll just move on to the next free site. Filesharers are our best friends."

 

Mr. Pandeya also affirmed that his outfit was currently in negotiations with some of the music industry's biggest players, and while he wouldn't list 'em by name, he did note that things have been "positive" so far. Another interesting aspect of all this is how it expects to generate revenue outside of actual music consumers. Reportedly, the new site will raise cash "through advertising and by making network data traffic cheaper and more efficient for internet service providers, which would be done by making the filesharing more local, allowing users in the same city to be interconnected as opposed to swapping data across multiple borders." Is P2P 2.0 upon us? Is the conventional subscription model about to be turned upside down by a most unlikely source? If Hans' dreams come true, it sure seems possible.

[redbeacon]

Piracy via payware online file-hosting services

 

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3114/istockonlinepiracy460x2.jpg

 

Movie industry watchdog voices its concern about increased popularity of such sites

Straits Times, Thursday January 14th 2010

 

NET-SAVVY Singaporeans are opting for paid file-hosting services to get their dose of pirated movies and software.

 

Fans say these services - which can range from US$10 (S$14) per month to US$200 for lifetime membership - offer faster, more reliable and less traceable downloads compared with other ways of getting bootleg materials.

 

According to global website-tracking service Alexa, there are five file-hosting sites within its top 100 website list as of yesterday. The two most popular with downloaders here, Megaupload and RapidShare, are Singapore's 33rd and 39th most popular sites, respectively.

 

Such sites work by directly hosting a file that has been uploaded onto a server. Paid users are able to access the file - be it a blockbuster movie or a Microsoft application - via a Web link.

 

In comparison, popular auction portal eBay is in 32nd place, while the only BitTorrent file-sharing website, The Pirate Bay - which is free - is in 81st place.

 

According to Google search statistics, the number of users looking up 'RapidShare' has been rising steadily, from being so low as to be not measurable in 2005 to becoming one of the most popular search terms last year.

 

Searches for 'Megaupload' show a similar pattern.

 

Swiss-based RapidShare's spokesman Katharina Scheid declined to say how many Singapore users are paying for its services, although she acknowledged that it has become more popular.

 

RapidShare was sued by the German music industry in 2007 for allegedly helping to distribute pirated music files.

 

Hong Kong's Megaupload did not reply to a Straits Times request for answers.

 

The Motion Picture Association's director for operations for the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Edward Neubronner, said the movie industry watchdog is 'aware and concerned' about the increased popularity of such file-hosting services.

 

Fans of these sites say they are the fastest way to download bootleg materials, especially after Internet service providers like StarHub, concerned over the disproportionate amounts of data used by BitTorrent users, began cutting back on the bandwidth allocated to them.

 

'Using BitTorrent, it can take between an afternoon to weeks to download a movie. With Megaupload, I can begin watching it in under an hour,' said undergraduate L. Tan, 20, who declined to give his full name.

 

Mr Tan, who shares access to a US$200 Megaupload lifetime account with three friends, said the US$50 he paid was worth every cent.

 

'Since I started using it last year, I have downloaded dozens of (pirated) movies and games. If I had paid for them, it would have cost me much more, easily hundreds of dollars...and that's not counting the stuff I will download in future,' he said.

 

Users point to another advantage of these sites - that the sites help them stay under the radar of copyright owners.

 

There is some truth to this, said lawyer Bryan Tan.

 

Unlike file-sharing systems like BitTorrent, which download and upload files simultaneously, file-hosting is for downloading only. Users do not face heftier criminal charges connected to distribution of copyrighted materials, Mr Tan said.

 

While people using pirated materials can be sued, few rights owners do this due to the expense and public backlash this can cause. The authorities have not charged users for illegal downloads here.

 

Due to the popularity of file-hosting sites, users have begun looking for ways to exploit them, such as sharing, reselling and even hacking accounts.

 

RapidShare's Ms Scheid warns that account sharing 'is forbidden and if we detect fraud we have to exclude these users from our service.'

 

But Mr L. Tan is unfazed. 'Just as we are using these sites to get around anti-piracy measures, there are also ways to get around such sites' security.'

[redbeacon]

Overcharged for electronic items, and then forced to sign a no-dispute agreement.

 

A guy visited a gadget shop in Lucky Plaza shopping mall to buy accessories for a BlackBerry phone that he found. The shop then charged him $541 for a battery, screen protector, and a memory card -- which was valued at a street price of around $200

 

Read about it here: http://www.digitalone.com.sg/news/article/11200/1

[xXxRatedxXx]

Overcharged for electronic items, and then forced to sign a no-dispute agreement.

 

A guy visited a gadget shop in Lucky Plaza shopping mall to buy accessories for a BlackBerry phone that he found. The shop then charged him $541 for a battery, screen protector, and a memory card -- which was valued at a street price of around $200

 

Read about it here: http://www.digitalone.com.sg/news/article/11200/1

 

[yt]

[/yt]

[lunloon]

1. Lucky Plaza is tourist trap, Singaporeans should know better

2. 22 year old guy, should be more savvy (read: cheapskate) than to splurge so much money on such accessories?

 

Victim don't seem to be local.

[overboost]

no singaporean will go there to buy electronics.. at least no sane ones...

[redbeacon]

[Archive] Technology & IT News from around the world (created on Friday March 4th)