Archive for June 27th, 2008

Sony Puts Network at Center of Mid-term Strategy 0

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Sony is getting ready to directly link its consumer electronics products and considerable movie and TV content libraries. Later this year the company will begin providing video content to PlayStation 3 users via the recently-launched PlayStation Network, and will start a streaming video service for owners of Bravia TVs with a network connection.
"This continues to be one of the clearest opportunities for Sony to leverage its entertainment assets to differentiate its electronics products," said Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony at a Tokyo news conference. As part of the push the company will increasingly build Internet connectivity into its products. By March 2011, it plans to have network-enabled and wireless capable products available in 90 percent of its product categories, and aims to roll out the video services to key devices by the same date.

View: The full story @ PCWorld

UK.gov calls on white hat hackers to spot data leaks 0

The civil service’s systems will be subjected to new attacks by independent white hat hackers in a bid to spot weaknesses in government data handling before catastrophic losses occur, it was announced today.
The white hat programme is one of a suite of targets, training and scrutiny measures that Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell hopes will bring about a "culture change" across the civil service and restore public faith in the government’s competence in handling sensitive data. He said: "The risk we must counter is that citizens and business lose trust in the Government to handle their data effectively. It would be foolish not to acknowledge that the lapses in data security have affected this confidence."

View: The full story @ The Reg

Flashy sites annoy users 0

Web content management firm SDL Tridion has released the results of its research into what elements of web site design most turn off internet users, coming in top is pop up advertising. Seventy-eight percents of respondents said that this type of advertising was the most frustrating web experience, complaining that ads appeared at inappropriate times and were difficult to get rid off. SDL said that this kind of annoyance was indicative of what it called "bimbo web design", saying that sites were often "attractive, but with no substance."
“First impressions count and no company wants bimbo characteristics on its website,” said Erik Aeyelts Averink, President SDL Tridion. “All ‘fluff’ and no content drives website users mad. Don’t push customers away and annoy them for no reason.”

View: The full story @ vnunet