October

Internet:
Saga launches a social networking site for the over-50s (31st Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/31/news.socialnetworking


Internet:
Virtual world is hit with a real world law-suit – ‘It may be a 3D virtual world, but internet site Second Life is facing a real-world lawsuit by several firms claiming the site violated copyright and trademark laws. The lawsuit was filed last week in a federal court in Brooklyn, according to the New York Post. The site has 10 million registered users who create virtual identities known as avatars, where they can buy food, clothes, homes and businesses using real money. The lawsuit seeks damages equal to three times their lost profits. Thomas Simon, who runs the site, said: "It's a video game. I didn't know you could sue anyone over it." (29th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2200896,00.html


Radio:
The latest Rajar figures show digital radio is successfully increasing its audiences in the UK (29th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/29/mondaymediasection.digitaltvradio


Global:
An article on the current and future role of telecommunications in Africa (29th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/29/mobilephones


Economics:
‘The world has gone mobile mad and gadget crazy as prices fall’ –an article on the popular success of electronics (27th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/27/technology.gadgets


Videogames:
Will Wright, creator of the Sims, defends video games against charges they harm children (26th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/26/games.childrens


Internet/War:
Palestinian militants are using Google Earth to target their missiles on Israel (25th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/25/google.israel


Internet:
Microsoft buys a 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240m (24th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7061042.stm The BBC website offers ‘15 reasons’ Facebook might be worth the $15bn valuation (25th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7061398.stm


Music:
Huge pirate internet site shut down – the members-only filesharing website OiNK is shut down following arrests in Teeside and Amsterdam (23rd Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7057812.stm See also (24th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/24/piracy.crime


Computing:
Samsung shows off what it claims is the world’s most powerful chip for use in memory cards (23rd Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7057717.stm


Politics:
Hillary Clinton faces a viral-video ‘truth-boating’, being subjected to a hostile Youtube video from a claimed former associate (23rd Oct): http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/10/clinton_video


Cinema:
An article on the release of Beowulf in 3-D and contemporary developments in cinema technology (23rd Oct): http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/15-11/ff_3dhollywood


Music:
On Lala.com and its CD-swapping service (23rd Oct): http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/15-11/ff_lala


Security/Control:
An article on China’s ‘Great Firewall’ and its ‘futile’ attempts to control internet use (23rd Oct): http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/15-11/ff_chinafirewall


Surveillance:
An article on a new GPS tracker jacket that lets parents keep an eye on where their children are (or where they’ve left their jacket!) (23rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/23/news.crime


Economics:
Microsoft gives up its resistance to the European Commission and agrees to comply with the landmark anti-trust ruling (23rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/23/digitalmedia.microsoft


Future:
Carbon nano-tubes are being used to make stronger materials. ‘Super-strong’ body-armour is ‘in sight’, the article says (23rd Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7038686.stm


Television:
Virgin media plans to attract customers with upgraded broadband services using the faster speeds cable can offer to differentiate the business from rivals (22nd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/22/media.digitalmedia


Internet:
Vietnam is scandalised by a sex-video released online apparently showing the young female star of a popular TV show (22nd Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7056586.stm Four days later police begin making arrests for distributing the material (26th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7063585.stm


Future/Computing:
Experts say they have paved the way for future hand-held supercomputers (21st Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7055423.stm


Surveillance:
A new report highlights the current limits of CCTV technology in crime-fighting. 80% produce pictures that are of such poor quality they cannot be used and most cameras are in the wrong place (20th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2195585,00.html


Internet:
Website told to identify users who ‘vilified club’ - Sheffield Wednesday Football Club yesterday won a high court order aimed at identifying the authors of allegedly libellous messages on a fan website. The club, its chairman, chief executive and five other directors had brought proceedings against Neil Hargreaves, who owns and operates owlstalk.co.uk. They claimed that Mr Hargreaves had permitted some users to pursue a "sustained campaign of vilification" against them, and sought to identify 11 individuals behind 14 postings which appeared in July and August this year (19th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2194495,00.html See also the longer story at (22nd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/22/news.blogging


Internet:
Myspace and Skype announce a deal to embed Skype’s voice communications technology in Myspace’s existing instant messaging function to allow members to chat to one another. ‘The arrangement could be crucial both to MySpace's parent company, News Corporation, and to Skype's owner, eBay - both under pressure to demonstrate they can make money out of huge online followings’ (18th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/18/skype


Videogames/Virtuality:
An article on ‘serious games’ which use gaming VR to deliver educational and training experiences (18th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/18/news.games


Television:
An article on Whitehaven, the first town to begin the digital switchover on 17th October (16th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/16/1 Another piece discusses the problems of the switchover (22nd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/22/mondaymediasection.mediaguardian1


Internet:
An article about viral-video advertising on Youtube and the success of Blendtec’s ‘Will it blend?’ videos. What’s interesting is how an American food blender company, usually to be found advertising on TV, instead turns to the web and blends iPhones to demonstrate its product (15th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/15/mondaymediasection13


Internet:
Porn spammers jailed for five years – one of the world’s first successful prosecutions against internet spammers (14th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/14/internet.crime


Television/Internet:
The Archers becomes the first BBC drama serial to be turned into a regular podcast (13th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/13/radio.apple


Writing:
An article on how the skill of letter-writing is dying and what might be being lost with electronic communication (13th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/post/story/0,,2190290,00.html


Internet/Health:
Wireless computer network risks are to be investigated by the Government (13th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/13/internet.internetphonesbroadband


Internet:
The creators of Second Life reveal they are working on ‘universal’ avatars that can travel between the different worlds people use (11th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7038039.stm


Crime:
Interpol announces they have reversed a digitally scrambled photo to show the face of a paedophile who appears in numerous online images. They launch a worldwide appeal to find the serial offender (9th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2186568,00.html Within days he is identified (16th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2192116,00.html


Music:
Radiohead offer their new album, Rainbows, over the internet allowing consumers to choose how much they pay for it (7th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/07/media.digitalmedia One journalist considers how much the album is worth (10th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7037194.stm whilst another uses the opportunity ton consider the value of the free goods being made available by artists and companies today in their battle for people’s attention (5th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7024728.stm Further discussions of the story can be found at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/02/digitalmedia.musicnews


Internet:
Japanese civil servants are reprimanded for spending hours at work editing articles about robots and animation (5th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7029685.stm


Music:
A US court jury orders a woman to pay $222 000 (£109 000) in damages for illegally file-sharing music (being fined for 24 songs at $9250 per song, though record companies claimed she’d shared 1702 songs). She was the first person in the US to try and fight the case in court (5th Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7029229.stm See also (6th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2184874,00.html


Future:
A US gene pioneer declares he has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life-form on earth (6th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/06/genetics.climatechange
Though the scientist’s claims attract criticism (10th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2187274,00.html


Internet:
Facebook users start two groups campaigning to boycott Kettle crisps following the disclosure the company has called in US union busters to dissuade workers at its Norwich factory from joining a union (9th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/09/money.retail


Crime:
Police smash international £1bn internet fraud gang (5th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2184269,00.html


Internet:
An article on how Nablus in the West Bank relies upon the internet whilst living with the difficulties of Israeli occupation (4th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/04/guardianweeklytechnologysection.internet


Television:
BSkyB may sue if it is forced to sell its ITV stake, it warns (3rd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/03/media.bskyb


Music:
Microsoft launches updated models of its Zune player to compete with the new iPods (3rd Oct): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7025821.stm


Mobile Phones/Telephony:
The mobile phone operator 3 is working with the online calls firm Skype on a cheap voip handset bringing free mobile internet calls to the mass market (2nd Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/02/mobilephones


Internet:
An opinion piece on why Web 2.0 represents a revolution for the broadcast industry (1st Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/01/mondaymediasection.digitalmedia


Control:
An article on the shutdown of communications in Burma as the Government continued to clamp down on opposition. Interestingly ‘about half of all communications to the rest of the world’ were being blocked by the regime and the internet was effectively ‘closed-down’ in Burma (1st Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/01/burma.digitalmedia


Television:
The aftermath of ‘Crowngate’ and the TV fakery scandals continues. Recent articles include discussions of the repercussions for the BBC (8th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/08/mondaymediasection.bbc , of the background to the fall of BBC1 Controller Peter Fincham (6th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/06/themonarchy.bbc1 , of the pressure from the BBC trust (7th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/07/themonarchy.bbc and of the problems the BBC is facing with the need for cuts following the license settlement (14th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/14/media.bbc

On the 17th October the BBC Trust approved the Director General’s plans to cut thousands of jobs, sell off Television Centre and reduce by one tenth the number of programmes it makes (18th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/18/bbc . Meanwhile ITV admitted that the fake phone-ins would cost it £18m (19th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oct/19/5 , and a report on the same day suggested it would face a £70m fine for the deceit over the phone-ins (19th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/19/1 .The next day it was reported that ITV would also face a criminal inquiry by the Serious Fraud Office over its cheating of viewers (20th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/oct/20/crime1


Advertising:
Near the end of September The Guardian ran a series of features on internet advertising including ‘The Digital Persuaders’ (24th Oct): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia2 , ‘The Online Evolution’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia3 , ‘Wanted: Art Director, Copywriter, Technologist’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia4 , ‘Ads Take a More Subtle Direction’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia5 , ‘Is Search Still the Mainstay of Online Advertising?’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia6 , ‘We Know What You Want’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia7 ,
‘Will Click-Through Become an Endangered Species?’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia8 , ‘Online Ads Must Clean Up Their Act’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia9 , ‘How a Bonanza Could Turn into a Banana Skin’: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/advertising.digitalmedia10