EU Backs Nokia Standard for Mobile TV

<<<... "How do you design a compelling service that people will want? Even if it's free and financed by advertising, how many ads do people want to see on a small screen?" said Ross Biggam, director general of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe. Most countries have seen trials of mobile TV, such as sports, news and music videos although Italy is one of the rare EU states with a commercial-type service running, Biggam said. The Commission hopes this year's soccer European Championship and the Olympic Games will boost consumer take-up of television services over mobile phones, a potential new money-spinner for telecoms operators and broadcasters

Easy VoIP wiretaps coming soon

Virtually everything done via TCP/IP, with the (for now) exception of instant messaging, is on its way to becoming wiretap-friendly, thanks to a tentative 5-0 decision by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday. Thanks to relentless lobbying and fear-mongering by law enforcement outfits and the companies that sell surveillance equipment to them, all broadband communications, including VoIP, will have to be modified to allow the Feds to patch in easily and immediately, in order to comply with the 1994 Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). VoIP schemes that work only between computers will not be affected. Only so-called 'managed' services - those that allow VoIP and PSTN to communicate - will have to comply... more >>>