Popular internet payment processor, Paypal, has announced that Paypal Europe (Ltd) will cease functioning, as Paypal moves its operations to another Paypal entity, based in Luxembourg.

From 2 July 2007, PayPal Europe Sàrl & Cie, SCA (PayPal Luxembourg) will become the service provider for PayPal in the EU.

Paypal Luxembourg will be regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), the Luxembourg equivalent of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

While existing Paypal users in Europe should see no change or interruption in the service, there will be a newly revised User Agreement published for July 2nd.

While the details of the revision have not yet been released, Paypal does state that it will provide more details about the third parties to whom PayPal Luxembourg will disclose your personal and account information.

While any such move is likely to cause jitters for some merchants and internet buyers, it remains to be seen whether any significant change in the terms will actually occur, and whether any actual change in the user experience will follow.

However, with other payment processors in the UK - such as Worldpay and Google Checkout - offering little stiff competition, it is unlikely we’ll see any radical changes affecting the Paypal merchant experience.

Popular business investment program, Dragon’s Den is gearing up for it’s fifth series - and is looking for a new selection of entrepreneurs to pitch their innovations for funding.

In the last series, no less than ten entrepreneurs secured funding for various projects, including Reggae Reggae Sauce and the i-Teddy.

According to the BBC, entrepreneurs wishing to pitch to the dragons should be keenly aware of the following criteria:

• The Unique Selling Point: a product that serves a need like nothing else.
• Scalability: something that can be up scaled to make real money.
• Route to Market: the clear way the product can be sold and marketed.
• Mutually Beneficial Arrangement: just what will the Dragons get out of it?
• Exit Strategy: a plan of how the entrepreneur/Dragon will exit and make money.

If you would like an application form please send an e-mail to [email protected], telephone 09011 110825 (Calls cost 25p from a BT Landline, other operators and mobiles may vary) or visit www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden

BT Vision has secured a deal for CBS Paramount International Television to provide further on-demand programming for its BT Vision digital TV service. The agreement includes episodes of Sex and The City and Twin Peaks.

BT is preparing for a multi-million-pound national advertising campaign to promote its BT Vision IPTV service, which was launched in 2006.

TV, print, radio and online ads will promote the service with the strapline ‘TV on your terms’.

BT’s hybrid IPTV-digital terrestrial set-top box, known as the V-box, will be available in high street retailers John Lewis and Comet, priced at £199.

V-box connects to BT Broadband to provide thousands of hours of on-demand content and Freeview channels. It also features a personal video recorder which can record up to 80 hours of programming.

The box is installed by a BT engineer for £60 and there is also a £30 connection charge. A self-install version of BT Vision should be available later this year. Customers can choose to either pay per view or subscribe to programming blocks.

The new deal with CBS Paramount builds on content deals with Warner Bros, HBO, NBC Universal, Sony BMG and BBC Worldwide and the company is expected to announce further content deals shortly.

A new high-performance computer cluster, which will play a leading role in international scientific research, has been announced by Sir Alan Sugar, chairman of Viglen Ltd.

The cluster has been developed by Viglen, which specialises in computers and IT solutions, and the Department of Physics at Queen Mary, University of London.

The system, which has 182 terabytes of storage, has recently been expanded with 280 custom-built Viglen dual dual-core Opteron Processor 2GHz servers, each with 2Gb SDRAM supplied in a 1U rack-mountable configuration and dual Gigabit Ethernet.

It will join with other clusters in the UK and overseas, forming a phenomenally powerful computing grid of over 100,000 processors.

The grid will be part of the Grid Particle Physics (GridPP) project, which will analyse data from the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator, which opens later this year at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory in Switzerland. It will be a key part of the project’s investigation into the fundamental properties of matter.

In addition to particle physics, the cluster will be available to scientists involved in a whole range of research, including the search for a cure for avian flu and the design of fusion reactors.

John Underkoffler, the founder and chief scientist of Oblong Industries, is developing an operating system based on human-hand gesturing that could soon replace the mouse.

Underkoffler gave a talk called ‘Cinema, Science and Innovation’ at the Museum of Science in Boston, in which he said “the mouse has had a good run but its time to say good-bye”.

Inspired by his work as the science and technology advisor to Steven Spielberg for the film Minority Report, Underkoffler has taken ideas portrayed in the film and created an operating system, based on human-hand gesturing, that allows the user to explore in a 3D plane.

He has developed technology which responds to the pitch, roll and yaw movements created by a human hand, and works with cameras that track the positions of targets placed on gloves.

His aim is to get the technology on every desktop, making the mouse a thing of the past.

Times Online has reported attacks on Wi-Fi hotspots in Coffee-shop chains such as Starbucks.

The “evil twin” attacks involve a hacker setting up a rogue WiFi network and monitoring traffic in order to intercept private data.

This sort of attack is difficult to trace and can be set up with little more than a laptop with a USB WiFi adapter and some special software.

Victims of the scheme believe they are logging on to a genuine network in a cafe when they are actually being diverted to the rogue connection.

Their keystrokes are then captured by the hacker, who can extract information for fraudulent purposes such as identity theft.

Times Online monitored a chatroom used to discuss the technique, which is also known as a “man in the middle” attack, and saw information being exchanged about how security at Wi-Fi hotspots can be bypassed.

In a forum entitled “T-Mobile or Starbucks hotspot,” a discussion about the effectiveness of man in the middle type attacks took place.

A participant in the discussion, called “itseme” gave details about how the fake network should be set up, while another participant, called “baalpeteor,” claimed he was able to tunnel his way around public hotspot logins and said “the dns method now seems to work pass starbucks login.”

T-Mobile has not yet had any incident reported in the U.K. but advises customers to update their virus protection software and ensure they connect only to valid, certified Web sites.

VeeSee TV is launching an IPTV service for deaf people, which provides programming completely in British Sign Language (BSL).

The service can either be watched on a computer or streamed to a TV set. Although the service currently only offers a few hours of programming, this will be quickly expanded.

The service, which was developed by BSL interpreter Susie Grant, is available 24 hours a day. Ms Grant launched VeeSee TV because of the poor provision for deaf viewers on mainstream TV.

VeeSee is the first dedicated channel for BSL users. It also provides an interactive forum and user-generated content and will provide a platform for deaf film-makers to showcase their work.

When VeeSee is fully established, subscribers will be able to use webcam-to-webcam video streaming to communicate with other subscribers using BSL.

The VeeSee service is part of ViewTV - a portal of 900 streaming channels.

A group of telecom technology manufacturers and network operators are developing a standard that could boost mobile speeds to 100Mbps, making current 3G connectivity at 1.8Mbps seems positively snail-like.

Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Orange and its parent company France Telecom, T-Mobile and Vodafone are to collaborate on promoting the next-generation of high performance mobile broadband networks based on 3GPP Release 8 “Long Term Evolution / System Architecture Evolution” (LTE/SAE) specifications.

The alliance, which will be known as the LTE/SAE (Systems Architecture Initiative) Trial Initiative, will arrange field tests, interoperability experiments and customer trials to promote the 3G variant.

The initiative will start work this month and the project is expected to take up to 24 months to complete.

LTE is expected to provide lower operating costs for operators and lower latency end-user services, providing a service which outperforms both 3GPP Release 6 HSPA, and current fixed line DSL data rates

LTE radio systems provide greater radio spectrum efficiency through new radio transmission schemes and advanced multi-antenna technologies, and a more flexible utilisation of radio spectrum through support of carrier bandwidths ranging from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz (subject to 3GPP ratification).

LTE networks could start to be rolled out from 2009 to 2010 and could cost operators $18bn.

A new report from silicon.com reveals a sharp rise in laptop theft in the UK.

Data from the 28 UK police forces, who answered a Freedom of Information Act enquiry by silicon.com, shows an average year-on-year increase in the number of laptops stolen of six per cent.

The serious problems created by data loss and accidental disclosure have been highlighted in recent months by a number of high-profile cases, with Nationwide building society and the Metropolitan Police among public and private sector organisations to report laptop thefts.

Devon and Corwall recorded a massive increase of 45 percent in the number of laptops stolen, from 276 in 2005 to 401 in 2006.

In terms of numbers, the Metropolitan Police area was particularly badly affected. The area had 6,576 laptop thefts during 2006, an increase of almost 15% from 5,735 in 2005 and this figure only includes laptops stolen while being used or carried outside of the office or home.

However, some police forces did report significant progress with reducing laptop theft. Gloucester reported a drop of 34.7 per cent in the number of laptops stolen, from 239 in 2005 to 156 in 2006.

Microsoft gave away a few hints about its forthcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser at the Mix 07 conference in Las Vegas.

IE platform architect Chris Wilson said that the company will continue to prioritise security and ease-of-use in IE 8 and also plans to improve Web development with current standards compatibility.

Microsoft intends to release IE 8 within two years of IE 7’s release, which came out in October.

The company will enhance layout and compatibility with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 2.1 specifications.

The browser object model will be made more interoperable to make it easier to work with other browsers and allow more flexible programming patterns.

The Ajax Web programming style could be improved to provide more client-side application programming interfaces which would enable developers to create more powerful applications.

IBM has developed a technique of creating vacuum spaces between copper wires in semiconductors which will provide increased speed, enhanced performance and reduced power consumption.

The ‘Airgap’ technique could increase chip performance by 35% and reduce power consumption by 15%. It will form part of IBM’s manufacturing process for the 32-nanometer generation of microprocessors.

Insulation is used in chips to inhibit unintended transmission and chatter between wires, and a vacuum provides the most efficient form of insulation possible.

The technique for inserting vacuum gaps in chips arose from research on self-assembling molecules, called diblock copolymers, conducted by IBM researcher Chuck Black.

A diblock copolymer comprises two types of molecule that would ordinarily repel each other. However by designing the molecules in a particular way and controlling their interaction, they create intricate patterns through chemical repulsion.

The Airgap technology involves creating copper wires on a chip and then depositing insulators between the wires. The diblock copolymer is then applied resulting in an evenly spaced matrix of dots, with each dot having a 20-nanometer diameter.

These dots are then chemically etched away and become holes.

Further etching removes the insulating material and the void is capped to create a vacuum.

In its first public commitment to reducing its environmental impact Apple has revealed new manufacturing policies which will eliminate arsenic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from current products by 2008.

The company also plans to recycle 30% of its own electronic waste by 2010 according to a letter from Steve Jobs on the company’s website.

Later this year the company plans to introduce Macs with displays backlit by light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which are free of mercury, while new Macs in 2007 will have arsenic-free glass in their monitors.

The company plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008 and to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury as soon possible subject to technical and economic constraints.

Apple will also begin taking back unwanted iPods for free recycling at its stores around the world beginning this summer. It has previously only provided this service at US stores.

The new measures will move Apple off the bottom of the Greenpeace Green Electronics Guide, which rates large PC and mobile phone makers’ recycling and toxic content policies. It is now in 10th place out of 14.

HP has licensed a technology that could produce semiconductor chips significantly more powerful than those currently available.

HP researchers have created a process called nanoimprint lithography (NIL) which produces laboratory prototype circuits with wire widths of just 15 nanometers - about one-third the size of those used in the most advanced circuits available this year.

Once the NIL “master” is created, copies can be stamped out quickly and inexpensively. The patterns are then filled in with metals for the wires.

HP has licensed the technology to Nanolithosolutions Inc which has developed a tool based on NIL technology which is both inexpensive and easy to use.

The tool consists of a module that fits into a mask aligner - a piece of machinery used to create circuit patterns in chips today - turning it into a high-resolution NIL machines which creates the patterns for wires and transistors on a substrate.

The tool takes only a few minutes to install and will allow semiconductor manufacturers to produce chips with wires measuring a few atoms wide.

Hard-drive manufacturers are expected to start using imprint lithography on patterned media hard drives, which may be available in five years time.

Nanolithosolutions has already secured a firm order for the tool and will enter beta testing with other prospective customers.

Google has broken Apple’s monopoly over the prefix ‘i’ and named its updated Personalised Home product iGoogle.

iGoogle allows users to create a customised portal featuring news, blog postings and ‘gadgets’ - interactive information modules for topics such as the local weather, date and time, news or horoscopes.

Google has updated the product with a number of features including a Gadget Maker that makes it easier for users to create their own gadgets with their own content.

Users can now create gadgets without having to use code or HTML through seven templates: Framed Photo for creating and updating photos; GoogleGram, a greeting card which changes over 7 days; Daily Me - a miniblog; a YouTube gadget for video clips; Free Form - for any text and image; Personal List for favourite songs, bands etc and Countdown, for counting down days to special events.

iGoogle will also feature ‘My Community’ which allows users to share their gadgets with contacts in their Gmail list.

iGoogle has been expanded internationally, reaching 26 languages and more than 40 countries, with new themes for iGoogle users located outside the US.

Google is also launching location-based personalised search results for users who provide a default location in Google Maps.

IBM is developing its System z mainframe computer into an online 3-D gaming platform.

The system will allow an organisation to create and run a virtual online environment like “Second Life,” on one unit, either as a gaming environment or as a showcase for their products or services.

The PlayStation 3 uses the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) - a hybrid processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba which uses a central core with eight synergistic processing elements that focus on specific kinds of computations.

The Cell/B.E. processor would be integrated with IBM’s System z mainframes which can run multiple operating systems via multiple processors, as well as assigning workloads to specialty processors for tasks such as processing Java or Linux-based workloads.

The system brings together the Cell/B.E. processor’s ability to handle graphics-intensive computations, and the IBM System z mainframe’s ability to handle massive numbers of users and accounts.

IBM is collaborating with Hoplon Infotainment, a Brazillian online game company which makes middleware for virtual worlds, called bitVerse.

bitVerse is currently under development using IBM WebSphere XD as the underlying runtime environment, along with IBM’s DB2 database.
IBM and Hoplon are porting Hoplon software to the Cell/B.E. to handle message passing and physics simulation. The companies have created a programming model and messaging architecture that separates the application running on the system.

By splitting the processing workloads, the mainframe will let companies process accounts while simultaneously processing the virtual 3-D environments.

The system would allow a company to deliver an online 3-D gaming environment without having to create or maintain a massive server farm.

The BBC has secured approval to go ahead with its iPlayer on-demand TV service which will allow viewers to download BBC programmes.

The BBC Trust, the BBC’s independent governing body, approved the service following a public value test (PVT) which received responses from around 10,500 individuals and organisations. The test demonstrated significant public support for iPlayer.

The trust concluded that the service would have limited market impact, dismissing concerns that iPlayer could have a detrimental effect on DVD retailers and commercial broadcasters.

iPlayer will initially allow users to download BBC programmes for up to seven days after broadcast and watch them for up to 30 days after download.

Selected series will be available to download in their entirety for 30 days after the final episode has been broadcast.

The iPlayer service will initially be available to those using Windows, although it will eventually be rolled out to Macs, cable TV services and Freeview boxes. The launch date for the service has not yet been announced.

Microsoft is expected to release the source code to part of its Silverlight technology at the MIX 07 convention which is being held in Las Vegas this week.

Microsoft is also expected to release a beta of Silverlight, its new technology for online media applications. Silverlight is a browser plug-in which allows web content providers to offer rich video and interactive media experience direct from their sites.

The technology, which is a competitor to Adobe’s Flash, uses Vista’s new graphics framework, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Details on which aspect of Silverlight will be open-sourced have not yet been released.

Microsoft may also demonstrate the final version of its Expression toolset for building rich internet applications (RIAs) at MIX 07, although it is not scheduled for completion for another two months.

Microsoft is promoting Expression as an alternative to Adobe’s Creative Suite 3. Designers can use Expression to create applications to be delivered through Silverlight.

IBM has announced a new internet protocol television (IPTV) infrastructure solution for service providers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The solution aims to make it easier for European ISPs to provide next-generation IPTV entertainment services along with their data and voice services. It will help ISPs optimise network usage and differentiate their IPTV service from those of their competitors.

IBM believes that while ISPs are keen to add IPTV, triple-play services (VoIP services, broadband Internet and cable television/video-on-demand) present significant technical challenges and ISP’s may lack the technical and implementation skills to integrate video delivery into their existing networks.

IBM will now be able to provide IPTV infrastructures for ISP’s through its Converged Communications for IPTV service.

Cisco and its subsidiary, Scientific Atlanta, will provide next-generation IP and video infrastructure for the IPTV portion of the triple-play solution.

IBM will provide business consulting, technical consulting, implementation services and flexible financing services from IBM Global Financing.

The infrastructure solution is an extension of IBM’s long-standing relationship with Cisco.

Its standard components include IBM BladeCenter and xSeries Servers; software products from IBM WebSphere, Tivoli and Lotus brands; and Cisco end-to-end IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) solutions. The new solution also uses Linux technology.

The IBM IPTV infrastructure solution will be sold through IBM Global Technology Services and Cisco. It will be available in most countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa during 2Q 2007.

Internet television company Joost has signed up 31 advertisers ahead of the launch of its free service.

Joost, which was launched by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, is testing the service prior to a public launch. It aims to provide free TV-like viewing with the wide choice and user control possible over the Internet. The service will be supported by advertising.

Joost has already signed broad programming partnership deals with Viacom and CBS Corp, and other independent producers.

It has now entered into three-month contracts with major names including Coca-Cola, General Motors, Nike and Visa, for pre-roll and overlay ads. It is working with media and brand advertising agencies to develop marketing campaigns for their clients

The company is taking an innovative approach to advertising - it hopes to micro-target audiences with new and unique ads during professionally produced programming.

Joost has entered into a partnership with Frank N. Magid Associates to monitor the effectiveness of this approach. User-consumption habits, advertising impact and intent-to-purchase data will be collected and analysed.

Google’s Personalized Home Page service is suffering from technical problems which are causing some home pages to revert to older versions or to their original default settings.

Users have posted numerous complaints on discussion boards about the loss of home pages which they have personalised with RSS feeds, links and bookmarks to act as a hub for their Web content and services.

An official Google posting cited changing the home page theme as a possible trigger for the problem. The message advises users to avoid changing their theme until further notice and acknowledges that it is not clear whether users will be able to recover their customized pages.

Other Google services such as Blogger, Gmail, and Google Apps have also experienced technical problems in the last six months, highlighting the risk of relying on hosted applications providers.

The development of hosted applications is being widely promoted as an alternative option to purchasing applications and installing them on an individual PC or server.