Google "to set up online tablet store"

Google is considering setting up its own online tablet shop to boost Android sales.

While Google's mobile OS has been a success on smartphones, tablets running Android have made less of a dent in the Apple iPad's dominant market share.

Google will try to counter that by selling tablets directly to consumers via its own online store, with some co-branded devices, according to anonymous sources cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Google is also considering subsidising the cost of tablets to bring prices down and drive takeup, one source claimed.

Google acquired manufacturer Motorola, which made the Android-powered Xoom tablet, but the Journal's sources say the store will also sell tablets by other partners, including Samsung and Asus. The latter is expected to release a co-branded tablet with Google later this year.

The tech giant tried a similar tactic with smartphones in January 2010, selling its first handset, the Nexus One, directly to consumers online. While Google said it sold 300,000 smartphones via the online store, it was shut down several months after it opened.

"It's clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone," Android head Andy Rubin said at the time.

Google declined to comment on the report.

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RIM to refocus on corporate customers

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion says it plans to go back to its roots and focus on corporate customers at the expense of consumer markets in a major strategic shake-up.

RIM has been struggling to compete with the surge of Android and Apple smartphones, and the move away from the consumer market follows a $125 million loss for its third financial quarter.

The decision is an admission of defeat in the consumer smartphone race, but new CEO Thorsten Heins said a turnaround required "substantial change" to boost the flagging company.

"We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalise on our leading position in this segment," Heins said. "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength."

Heins said the company is well positioned in the corporate space and would soon release the BlackBerry 10 platform, but stressed "the business challenges we face over the next several quarters are significant and I am taking the necessary steps to address them".

The changes came alongside a management shake-up at the company, as the newly-installed Heins looked to make a mark.

RIM co-founder Jim Balsillie has resigned from the board, while chief technology officer David Yach will be retiring after 13 years. Jim Rowan, chief operating officer for global operations, has "decided to pursue other interests”.

Investor anger

Whether the planned changes can turn the company around remains to be seen, but investors and analysts remain deeply unhappy at the seemingly rapid decline in the company.

"They're going to scramble around now for the next three to six months and every poor shareholder that had faith in them is going to be potentially impoverished," Peter Misek, managing director at Jefferies and Company in New Jersey told the Reuters news agency. "I'm so angry as a Canadian; every Canadian investor should be angry."

"It's a disaster, the board should be ashamed of themselves, we told them three months ago to look at licensing the OS, opening up the system, to look at strategic alternatives, in fact, we told them before that, but they've been stubborn and they've had the ostrich treatment."

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Inspectors slam conditions in Apple factories

The Fair Labor Association has told Apple and supplier Foxconn to clean up their act after an investigation found at least 50 breaches of code and labour laws.

Apple – and other tech manufacturers - have come under scrutiny over the way workers are treated, with critics bemoaning low wages, poor working conditions and long hours.

Apple moved to quell the complaints by bringing in the FLA, but after interviewing 35,000 staff at Foxconn factories making Apple goods, inspectors drew up a plan for change after finding dozens of issues.

Can you buy tech with a clean conscience? Read our feature in issue 212, out Thursday

The FLA said its investigation found that, over the past year, all three factories inspected exceeded both the FLA Code standard of 60 hours per week (regular plus overtime) and the Chinese legal limits of 40 hours per week and 36 hours maximum overtime per month.

According to the inspectors, during peak production periods, the average number of hours worked per week exceeded 60 hours per worker, with some employees working more than seven days in a row without the required day off.

On top of excessive hours, the FLA said it also found problems with overtime compensation, several health and safety risks and crucial communication gaps that have led to a widespread sense of unsafe working conditions among workers.

“FLA observed other serious issues in areas such as health and safety, worker integration and communication, treatment of interns, and China’s social security enrollment, among others,” the association said in its report.

Shorter hours, same pay

According to a remediation plan laid out in the report, Foxconn will look to address the issues and bring the company into line with FLA practices and local laws by July 2013.

The supplier agreed to limit working hours to the legal level of 49 hours per week, including overtime, which would mean a reduction in monthly overtime hours from 80 to 36, although workers are not expected to lose income because a new pay scheme will be put in place to make up the shortfall. 64% of workers interviewed said their salaries currently didn't meet their basic needs.

“If implemented, these commitments will significantly improve the lives of more than 1.2 million Foxconn employees and set a new standard for Chinese factories,” said Auret van Heerden, CEO of the Fair Labor Association.

The move comes in the same week as Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Foxconn's plants in China.

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Windows smartphones overtake Symbian for Nokia

Nokia’s UK sales of Windows smartphones have overtaken smartphones based on its older Symbian system, marking progress following the company’s switch to Windows Phone last year.

According to a report from Bloomberg that cites research from Kantar Worldpanel, Windows handsets made up 2.5% of the UK market, compared to a 2.4% share for Symbian.

Based on interviews with handset buyers, the research suggests Nokia is making progress in its intention to offer a third platform in competition with Android and Apple, even if the overall share remains small.

“The fact that Windows Phone sales have overtaken Symbian based on one handset is encouraging,” Kumar analyst Dominic Sunnebo told Bloomberg.

“However, Nokia will need to expand the range quickly in order to keep up with the slew of next generation competitor products being launched.”

The research found that the Lumia 800 contributed an overwhelming 87% of Windows Phone 7 sales across Europe.

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New iPad hotter but "not uncomfortable"

The new iPad runs hotter than the previous version, but it remains "comfortable" to hold in the hand, according to tests from a US consumer group.

Consumer Reports recorded top temperatures of 116 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius) while running a game - hotter than the iPad 2's top temperature by a few degrees.

"Using a thermal imaging camera, Consumer Reports engineers recorded temperatures as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit on the front and rear of the new iPad while playing Infinity Blade II," reviewer Donna Tapellini wrote in a post on the Consumer Reports blog.

The temperature recorded by Consumer Focus is above Apple's recommended range of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) - but they're also well above temperatures recorded by other testers, including a Dutch website that said temperatures were hotter than the iPad 2 by five degrees Celsius and minor temperature differences recorded by CNet.

Our reviewer didn't find any overheating on the device, giving the new iPad a spot on our A List.

Indeed, Tapellini said the device didn't appear to be overheating. "During our tests, I held the new iPad in my hands," she said. "When it was at its hottest, it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period."

Testing

The temperature was taken on a single device after the game had been running for 45 minutes, with Wi-Fi left on but 4G turned off, and the Smart Cover on, Consumer Focus said.

When the new iPad was unplugged, it hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius), 12 degrees hotter than the iPad 2. While plugged in, it hit 116 farenheit (47 degrees Celsius), 13 degrees hotter than the iPad 2, the report said.

"The hottest areas weren't evenly distributed throughout the iPad's back, but were concentrated near one corner of the display," Tapellini added.

Apple's spokeswoman Trudy Miller previously told website The Loop: “The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus ten hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications. If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.”

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Report: Windows 8 to arrive in October

Microsoft will finish Windows 8 this summer, with the official launch in October, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Tablets and laptops running the new OS will launch at that time, according to unnamed sources.

While both ARM and Intel devices will be available at launch, the sources predicted there would be around five running on ARM and more than 40 on Intel.

After the release of the beta - called a consumer preview by Microsoft - at the end of last month, it's been widely expected that Windows 8 would arrive this year.

“The last thing Microsoft wants to have is a situation where there are no compelling Windows tablets at a time when the new iPad looks like it’s going to be a good seller for the holidays,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told Bloomberg.

Dell is one of several manufacturers which has already suggested it plans to release Windows 8 tablets by the end of the year.

"We have a roadmap for tablets that we haven't announced yet," chief commercial officer Steve Felice told Reuters. "You'll see some announcements... for the back half of the year."

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iPad teardown reveals Samsung still in favour

Apple's new iPad uses chips made by Samsung, Qualcomm and Broadcom other semiconductor makers, according to a firm that cracked open one of the devices.

The newest iPad went on sale this morning in the UK, but teardown firm iFixit got hold of a device in Australia and took it apart to reveal its inner workings - and despite Apple's patent disputes with Samsung, the company is still providing plenty of iPad parts.

The model used by iFixit contains a Samsung-manufactured display, although a source familiar with the device's components told Reuters this week that Samsung and LG will both supply their liquid crystal displays for the iPad.

The iPad includes a Qualcomm LTE cellphone chip as well as a Qualcomm wireless modem for 3G and 4G. Broadcom supplies a semiconductor handling wireless tasks such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, according to iFixit.

The iPad's new A5X application processor is based on energy-efficient technology licensed from Britain's ARM Holding and is manufactured by Qualcomm, as in past Apple devices.

A NAND flash memory chip is supplied by Toshiba, while Japan's Elpida provides the DRAM chips.

Apple doesn't disclose which company makes the components that go into its smartphones, and insists its suppliers keep quiet.

Analyst caution

Analysts recommend caution in drawing conclusions from the teardowns because Apple sometimes uses more than one supplier for a part. What is found in one iPad may not be found in others.

Still, teardowns remain a key source of information for investors interested in betting on Apple's suppliers, and a point of interest for Apple consumers.

"There are a whole lot of hedge funds out there that like to shoot first and ask questions later," said Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP who covers technology stocks.

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SOPA’s father gets a not-so-subtle warning

With America’s largest Internet providers only weeks from their next attempt at curbing copyright crimes by way of a coast-to-coast anti-piracy campaign, opponents of online censorship are taking their own message to the streets — literally.

At least 120 supporters have pledged a total of $15,111 by Thursday afternoon, more than enough to fund a billboard that will be erected above an avenue in the State of Texas district that is represented by Lamar Smith, the same lawmaker who introduced the failed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Although Representative Smith’s SOPA was killed in Congress, advocates for an open Internet still have concerns over how a partnership between Washington and Hollywood could crush the World Wide Web through other attempts at censorship. Even with SOPA and the Protect IP Act put aside, copyright violations and hacktivism continue to be topic widely debated on Capitol Hill and now the nation’s top ISPs plan to roll-out policies this summer that could cause alleged copyright criminals to have their own Internet privileges wiped away. In order to combat this and other potential ploys that would add government-sanctioned eyes over the Web, activists have successfully raised more than $15,000 to fund a billboard in Rep. Smith’s district, which includes the cities of Austin and San Antonio, Texas.
Co-opting a slogan synonymous with the Lone Star State, “Don’t mess with Texas,” the men behind the message have remixed the rally cry to read something more appropriate — the billboard, the design of which has yet to be settled on, will decry “Don’t mess with the Internet.”
If you’ve followed the fight against online censorship closely over the last few months, you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that the billboard campaign was created by Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of the popular website Reddit which was instrumental in orchestrating a protest movement earlier this year against SOPA and PIPA. Mashable.com reports that Ohanian came up with the idea just this week while brainstorming with others at a get-together at the South by Southwest conference in Austin.
“(The party) was a chance for all of us who have been talking about protecting the Internet to get together in a more relaxed setting,” Ohanian says. “There’s still plenty of work to be done. Now we can work together to protect our online rights, because nearly all of us in America value our freedom online and, well — we don’t want it messed with.”
Utilizing Crowdtilt, a website that allows an audience to donate funds towards practically any type of project, Ohanian and his associates managed to raise more than enough money to make the billboard scheme a reality in only a matter of days. He adds that even weeks after a massive Internet blackout endorsed by Reddit and Wikipedia earlier this year, he’s “really pleased” by the concern that is still rampant among Internet users skeptical of the government’s next move.
Before tossing in the towel with SOPA, Rep. Smith said, “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.” After a massive campaign made enough waves to force Washington to reconsider, Ohanian adds that more and more congressman are already siding with the online community advocating against increased censorship.
“There are now many more representatives and senators whose ear we have. The tech community is being asked what we’d like. . .we’re working on an online bill of rights — we’d like to codify the rights we enjoy offline to rights we can enjoy online,” says Ohanian.
Ohanian adds that he will be using suggestions and contributions from the Reddit community to help decide on a final design for the billboard, which was brainstormed with the help of the website’s co-founder, Erik Martin, and Holmes Wilson, co-founder of FightForTheFuture.org.

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Internet providers to start policing the web July 12

Some of the biggest Internet service providers in America plan to adopt policies that will punish customers for copyright infringement, and one of the top trade groups in the music biz announced this week that it could begin as soon as this summer.
The chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America told an audience of publishers on Wednesday that a plan carved out last year to help thwart piracy is expected to prevail and be put in place by this summer. RIAA CEO Cary Sherman was one of the guest speakers among a New York panel this week and he confirmed that, at this rate, some of the most powerful Internet providers in America should have their new policies on the books by July 12, 2012.
Last year, Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Cablevision Systems and other Internet service providers proposed best practice recommendations that they suggested would help curb copyright crimes on the Web. The end result largely settled on consisted of a “graduate response” approach, a plan that would mean culprits could be issued a series of warnings for illegally downloading suspect material which, after a certain number of offenses, would lead to “mitigation measures,” connection speed throttling and termination of service.
"We anticipate that very few subscribers, after having received multiple alerts, will persist (or allow others to persist) in the content theft,” the Center for Copyright Information said in an official statement last summer as plans were first publicized. Now nearly a year after developments made by the big ISPs were first discussed, the RIAA’s Sherman says that online censorship sanctioned by corporate conglomerates such as Time Warner and Verizon are practically set in stone.
Discussing the road to realizing how to implement the policies, Sherman briefly touched on the technical aspects of the plan this week during the panel. "Each ISP has to develop their infrastructure for automating the system," Sherman said. They need this "for establishing the database so they can keep track of repeat infringers, so they know that this is the first notice or the third notice. Every ISP has to do it differently depending on the architecture of its particular network. Some are nearing completion and others are a little further from completion."
So what does this mean for you? If you’re an Internet user in America, almost certainly something significant. Between Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Cablevision, those ISPs alone accounted for around 51 percent of the market in America back in 2008. Figures from June 2010 collected by the United Nation’s ITU division suggests that there are around 240 million Internet users now in the US, which means more than three-fourths of the country’s total population. With those big ISPs only thriving since their last figures were disclosed, 51 percent coverage of the market today would mean that around 120 million users can expect to fall under the umbrella of a massive campaign that could soon see half of the country at risk of having their Internet shut off.
As RT reported last year, a flip of the kill-switch is indeed an option that ISPs can take if they decide they find their customers at fault. That doesn’t mean it’s the be-all-end-all response, though. Under the “six-strike” policy discussed last year, each alleged instance of copyright infringement would prompt the ISP to reach out to its customer in question and inform them that they have detected a violation of US law. Strikes one through four would constitute email warnings of increasing severity, but five through six can come with legal action and end with the termination of service and potentially time behind bars. Although cooperating ISPs said last year that they would suspend service after a certain number of infringements, today they are hesitant to announce permanently cancelling any accounts — but merely putting them on hold while users respond to their legal requests.
The explanation for a change of heart, of course, comes down to money. Earlier this year Cary Sherman penned a ranting diatribe in the New York Times attacking opponents of the failed Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act — or SOPA and PIPA, respectively — two anti-Internet legislations that had the hefty support of the RIAA.
“There's no question that all the companies that are providing access to music are benefiting in some way, legal companies, and that's entirely appropriate,” Sherman wrote earlier this year. “ISPs have done very well by the availability of music online, because it has created greater demand for broadband access, and as a result they have now penetrated to the 66-67 percent level of US households, because they want access to the content that the entertainment industry offers.”
With the big ISPs having more than 100 million users at their mercy, limiting connection speed could easily convince a good number of people to remediate the alleged violations they are accused of, but actually terminating service for good could be a grave mistake for the industry. National Cable & Telecommunications Association President James Assey said last year that, by implementing the plan,“We are confident that, once informed that content theft is taking place on their accounts, the great majority of broadband subscribers will take steps to stop it.”
Some companies have already taken similar steps, but have been met with their fair share of roadblocks along the way. Verizon has previously sent warning letters to users alleged to be in violation, but those warnings have in some cases proved to be bothersome. In one 2010 episode, for instance, a 53-year-old grandmother was threatened with having her Internet shut-down for sharing copyrighted material — specifically clips from the television show South Park — to which she was completely unaware of. In that case it was an instance of mistaken identity where the woman’s WiFi signal had been hijacked, by CNet acknowledged that the time that Verizon never bothered to investigate into the legitimacy of their own claims until after a third-party became involved in the mediation.
This isn’t to say, of course, that we are telling you that the RIAA and certain Internet service providers are the bad guys here. After the SOPA legislation threatened to terminate a good chunk of online services, many websites waged a protest earlier this year by taking themselves offline for 24-hours. Cary Sherman then took to the press to turn the fight around and make it seem like it was the entertainment industry that was suffering, not sites like Wikipedia, a champion of the protest; Cary called them out in his op-ed for aiding in a “digital tsunami” that, along with Google, “manufactured controversy by unfairly equating SOPA with censorship.”
“The hyperbolic mistruths, presented on the home pages of some of the world’s most popular Web sites, amounted to an abuse of trust and a misuse of power,” added Sherman. “When Wikipedia and Google purport to be neutral sources of information, but then exploit their stature to present information that is not only not neutral but affirmatively incomplete and misleading, they are duping their users into accepting as truth what are merely self-serving political declarations.”
Cary went on to say that the last minutue decision to drop SOPA was a questionable one prompted by the mass creation of “misinformation” and suggested it wasn’t the work of democracy, but rather demagoguery. Of course, when the RIAA attacked Megaupload for copyright infringement — which eventually led to US authorities seizing and shutting down the file-sharing site — the response from hacktivists aligned with the Anonymous collective was a massive distributed denial-of-service attack on the websites for the RIAA and a handful of other music and movie biz sites.
With SOPA and PIPA out of the way for now, American users of the Web must look ahead before declaring victory in a war against online censorship. Recently the US fought and won for the extradition of a 23-year-old UK man who operated a website that American authorities decided was in violation of US law. If they are willing to ship a college student abroad to bring him to trial for posting a few links, will they think twice before turning off your Internet for sharing your own copies of South Park? That’s an episode you’ll have to stay tuned for to find out.

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Review : Samsung Series 9

The torrent of Ultrabooks shows no sign of abating, but until now one major manufacturer has been conspicuously absent from the slim and light fracas. We caught a glimpse of Samsung’s sensible Series 5 – a semi-successful attempt to subvert the Ultrabook template by restoring the optical drive into a swollen 14in chassis – but now the spotlight falls on to the real deal: its no-expenses-spared refresh of the Series 9.

The transformation is remarkable. By taking the design ethos of the original and starting afresh, Samsung has produced a physically stunning laptop. It was hardly overweight before, but Samsung has pared down the chassis to a mere sliver of navy blue. Tapering from a few millimetres thick at its front edge to only 15mm at the rear – yes, that includes the rubber feet – the Series 9 is the dictionary definition of svelte.

And in a world where looks are as important as feel, Samsung strikes another blow: the Series 9 is outstandingly well made. It’s easily the equal of its price rivals, Apple’s MacBook Air or, for the Windows purists, Asus’ Zenbook UX31E. It feels deliciously solid in the hand, barely flinching as we attempted to flex it out of shape. For a laptop that weighs only 1.16kg, it’s a stunning feat of engineering.

Samsung has also addressed the connectivity issues of its predecessor: the ports are no longer hidden on dropdown flaps on the edges. Instead, the silver metallic strip running around the edge flares out as it reaches the hinge. Here, there’s just enough room for USB 3, micro-HDMI and a miniaturised Gigabit Ethernet connection on the left edge, while a USB 2 port on the other is accompanied by an SD card slot and mini-VGA. Bear in mind, though, that while an adapter for the miniature Ethernet connection is included, the full-sized D-SUB adapter is a £22 optional extra.

Stop pawing the Series 9 long enough to turn it on, and there are some neat touches. The most obvious is the brightness sensor that lights up the keyboard as the ambient light dims. Four brightness levels ensure the keys never disappear out of sight, and the backlighting only kicks in when it’s needed, thus conserving battery power.

Display

The brightness sensor keeps the matte 13.3in display in check, too, automatically adjusting the backlight to suit your surroundings. We did notice it shifting a little too readily on the odd occasion, but that’s nit-picking. With the LED backlight capable of reaching a brilliant 472cd/m2, and the matte display banishing distracting reflections, the Series 9 remains usable in almost any lighting conditions without having to reach for the brightness control.

In quality terms, though, the Samsung’s display blows away the current competition. The 1,600 x 900 resolution makes for a crisp, well-proportioned desktop; viewing angles are unbelievably wide, both vertically and horizontally; and the 760:1 contrast ratio means the picture oozes solidity and depth. Colour accuracy isn’t exemplary – the factory calibration of the MacBook Air helps it retain its lead here – and there’s a tendency for skin tones to look just a little too ruddy and warm, but it’s by no means bad. For now, this is the gold standard by which all other Ultrabook displays will be judged.

The Series 9’s audio performance is unusually assured. Quite how Samsung has crammed in such a tuneful set of speakers, we have no idea. There’s little real bass, but just enough body, clarity and volume to make any genre of music listenable.

Performance

Flick the lid open, and Windows 7 resumes from sleep in a couple of seconds. It isn’t quite as spritely as some, however, and this is probably due to the SanDisk SSD. While sequential read and write speeds reach 431MB/sec and 309MB/sec respectively, the performance with small 4K files is poor, with read and write speeds slowing to 9.6MB/sec and 6.75MB/sec.

And as it might be reasonable to expect a generous specification at this price, the Series 9 is disappointing. The Core i5-2467M processor is more often found in the cheaper Ultrabook models, and is partnered with the usual 4GB of DDR3 RAM. With a result of 0.55 in our benchmarks, the Series 9 is fast enough, but it’s behind the cheaper Asus Zenbook UX31E. One benefit such modest hardware brings is that the Series 9 is almost silent; it was only once we loaded up our Crysis benchmark that the Series 9’s chassis warmed to the touch, and the tiny internal fans whirred into action.

And somehow Samsung has also wrung reasonable stamina from the Series 9’s tiny chassis. With hardly any room for a battery, the Series 9 lasted a reasonable 6hrs 57mins in our light-use battery test. Heavy use wasn’t quite as impressive, with the battery running dry in 1hr 53mins.

Keyboard & touchpad

Our time with the Samsung threw up little in the way of serious annoyances. While there’s the nagging doubt that the keyboard isn’t quite as good as some of the Ultrabook competition, it’s largely trouble-free. The Scrabble-tile keys have very little travel, but the light spring at the end of each keystroke and the sensible layout make amends. It was only once we really picked up the touch-typing pace that we craved a little more feedback from each dig of the finger.

The touchpad will prove more controversial. Like many of its peers, it integrates the buttons into the pad itself; dab anywhere, and it gives way with a quiet, muffled click – just like a MacBook Air. Strangely, though, depressing the pad only registers a button press if you click in the bottom-left or bottom-right corner – click anywhere else, and it does nothing at all. It’s a baffling and annoying design decision.

Other than that, the pad works well. All the usual two-finger gestures – zooming, rotating and scrolling – feel fluid, and the combination of three-fingered swipes flicks between applications, minimises the currently open ones, or opens Flip 3D. It’s still nowhere near as slick as the Apple touchpad/OS X combination, but it’s the match of any of its Ultrabook rivals.

Conclusion

Despite its weaknesses, the Series 9 is a bewitching prospect: the combination of beauty, burly build and a class-leading display are enough to set anyone’s credit card twitching. And you’ve got to hand it to Samsung: the pricing is bold at £100 dearer than a comparable MacBook Air, and £200 more than the Asus Zenbook UX31E.

There are caveats. For £1,200, we’d expect nothing less than brilliance, and Samsung’s Series 9 isn’t quite there yet. That touchpad blots its copybook, the specification isn’t what we’d like, and although it’s the most desirable Ultrabook we’ve yet seen, we can’t help feeling tempted to opt for a MacBook Air, a copy of Windows 7 and a handful of change. It’s good, but not quite good enough.

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Police arrest woman over internet terror connections

The Metropolitan Police have arrested a woman that officers allege is involved with organising terror over the internet.

The arrest was made in an investigation that also saw a Moroccan arrested in Italy amid accusations that he was running a terror training group on Facebook and may have been planning an attack in Milan.

“Officers from the MPS Counter Terrorism Command have today arrested a 40-year-old woman on suspicion of offences under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000,” the Met said in a statement.

“Her arrest is in connection with an alleged posting of extremist material on the internet. We are liaising with the Italian authorities to establish whether there is any link to an arrest they made earlier this morning.”

Her arrest is in connection with an alleged posting of extremist material on the internet

According to the police, the London arrest was made in the early hours of this morning and police are continuing to search the suspect's home.

The link between the Italian arrest of a 20-year-old man and the London suspect is still being investigated, but police in Italy claim their arrest involves a possible terrorist whose computer contained plans of a Milan synagogue and who had been involved with a suspect website.

The arrest was the "result of monitoring of the internet that we've been doing for a while on a radical Islamic website,” Claudio Galzerano, head of Italy's police anti-terrorism unit, told BBC News.

Galzerano also said the man had operated a secret Facebook group with around a dozen members where posts included "instructions and manuals for explosive devices".

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BBC confirms commercial download plans

The BBC has confirmed plans to add a paid-for download service to its digital portfolio, giving viewers the option of “downloading to own” programmes shortly after broadcast.

The idea of a commercial download service was mooted earlier this year, and the BBC has confirmed it plans to push ahead with what is now dubbed “Project Barcelona”.

In a speech to the Royal Television Society, director general Mark Thompson laid out plans for an iTunes-like store where publishers could make their wares available for download. Unlike iPlayer, the content would be available permanently.

“The idea behind Barcelona is simple,” Thompson said. “It is that, for as much of our content as possible, in addition to the existing iPlayer window, another download-to-own window would open soon after transmission.

"If you wanted to purchase a digital copy of a programme to own and keep, you could pay what would generally be a relatively modest charge for doing so."

This is not a second licence-fee by stealth or any reduction in the current public service offering from the BBC - it’s the exact analogy of going into a High Street shop to buy a DVD

When the idea was first reported, it raised concerns among licence payers that they were being charged for the same content twice, given that the Beeb is funded by the taxpayer. Thompson, however, played down the fears, claiming commercial copies were already available to end users.

“This is not a second licence-fee by stealth or any reduction in the current public service offering from the BBC - it’s the exact analogy of going into a High Street shop to buy a DVD or, before that, a VHS cassette,” he said.

“For decades the British public have understood the distinction between watching Dad’s Army on BBC One and then going out to buy a permanent copy of it. Barcelona is the digital equivalent of doing the second.”

"Non-exclusive"

The content wouldn't be restricted to the BBC's own site, Thompson said, adding that it would be working with other retailers to provide content.

“The window would be non-exclusive,” Thompson said. “The BBC would open up one digital shop, but the expectation would be that all this content would also be made available for other existing providers to sell if they wish and that producers could exploit this download-to-own window in any way they wanted.

“The important point is that the window would be open-ended – in other words, the programmes would be available permanently.”

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PowerAMC 15.1 (PowerDesigner) + Patch

About

PowerDesigner (PowerAMC) is a collaborative enterprise modelling tool produced by Sybase. PowerDesigner runs under Microsoft Windows as a nativeapplication, and runs under Eclipse through a plugin. PowerDesigner supports model-driven architecture software design. PowerDesigner uses the .pdm file format.

PowerDesigner data modeling tool market share in 2002 was 39%. PowerDesigner is priced from $3,000 to $7,500 USD per developer seat.^[2]

Download

1°\ You can download te program from 1net --->> Here

2°\ Download patch from --->> 

*copy ptach into the poweramc folder (C:\Program Files\Sybase\PowerAMC 15) then patch the programe

thnx..

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