John Lister

The National Football League (NFL) has signed a deal that allows US viewers to watch the Super Bowl live on the Internet and smartphones, as well as on TV. It's considered the biggest test yet of the potential for audiences beyond traditional ... television sets. Under the deal, the game will be broadcast on NBC television as scheduled, but will also stream live on the NFL's own website, as well as on NBCSports.com. The service will be restricted to viewers in the United States. It will work in the same way as an existing arrangement by which NBC shows regular-season games online. The new ... (view more)

Google has renewed its deal to be the default search engine for the Firefox browser, providing Mozilla a major financial boost. But some suggest Microsoft bargained for that same slot, and ponder the implications for the search market. Google's ... contract for Firefox's default search engine position was worth $89 million in 2009 and $103 million in 2010, about 85 per cent of Mozilla's revenue. Experts believe Mozilla's other licensing deals, grants, and donations from users would produce nowhere near enough income to keep the browser well supported and updated. That may explain why it is asking ... (view more)

Facebook has been ordered by Ireland to give users greater control over their privacy settings. The order comes after a privacy practices audit that took 3 months to complete. The order will indirectly affect all Facebook accounts, except those held ... inside the US and Canada. (Source: washingtonpost.com ) Facebook Data Commissioner Issues Order The order comes from Billy Hawkes, the data protection commissioner for the Republic of Ireland. His order has such wide effect because all of Facebook's data, outside of North America, is held by a subsidiary based in Ireland and is thus subject to ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that 2012 will be its last appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. But the reason remains hotly disputed. The Consumer Electronic Show is one of the biggest events in the global tech calendar, often ... used to unveil new technologies, such as the video cassette recorder, the Nintendo Entertainment System, HDTV, and Blu-ray players. Microsoft first showed the Xbox console at CES in 2001, and in 2008 Bill Gates announced his retirement. For the past 14 years, Microsoft has delivered a keynote address on the first night of the multi-day show, ... (view more)

Biometric information used for identification is among IBM's five newest forecasts for the year 2016, along with thought-reading smartphones, which is reminiscent of a forecast it made five years ago. Since 2006, IBM has published an annual list of ... five technology trends it expects to take effect within five years. This year's forecasts include the end of passwords, which by 2016 may be replaced by biometric log-ins like fingerprint scanners , iris scanners or even DNA readers. As science fiction as that may seem, it's already in the works: Windows 8 is thought to support an option for log- ... (view more)

Facebook appears to be on the verge of suing Mark Zuckerberg because he likes the site too much. But this is no ordinary like -- and no ordinary Zuckerberg. The man in question is not the billionaire founder of Facebook, but rather an Israeli man ... who's trying an unusual tactic to highlight his side of a legal battle. He's an Israeli online businessman who was formerly known as Rotem Guez, but has now legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg (which is the exact same name of the CEO of Facebook). He's even taken out a passport in the new name. The dispute involves a company owned by the ... (view more)

Millions of users now running outdated versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) web browser will soon be forced by Microsoft to use newer versions of its proprietary browser. Older versions of Internet Explorer -- especially IE6, which was the ... default Internet Explorer that was bundled with Windows XP -- are extremely vulnerable to serious security threats and should not be used. Users who accept automatic updates of Windows, including its monthly security patches, will find their copy of Internet Explorer updated to a newer edition. Windows Vista or Windows 7 users will receive the ... (view more)

Microsoft has reassigned the man responsible for its mobile phone division during the past three years. Whether it's a snub for poor performance or a major change in the way the company serves desktop and mobile markets remains open to debate. Andy ... Lees, who was President of the Windows Phone division and oversaw all the company's work in the smartphone market has now been reassigned to work directly with Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer. His replacement, Terry Myerson, had been in charge of the division's engineering. Lees retains the title "President," while Myerson remains a corporate vice- ... (view more)

A Microsoft manager has revealed that the latest Windows Phone system already includes support for "contactless" smartphone payments in stores. However, there remain serious questions about the system's security status, which is still being worked ... on. Electronic Payments Make Transactions Quicker NFC is a form of wireless communication that works very much like Bluetooth and WiFi, but only over a much shorter distance (as little as a few centimeters). One of its primary uses could be to make electronic payments in stores without swiping a card. Although technically NFC payments are ... (view more)

A Georgia hospital was recently forced to turn ambulances away after their information systems were infected with a computer virus (malware). The problem meant staff were unable to process admissions quickly enough to cope with demand. A ... spokesperson for the Gwinnett Medical Center said that while a malicious software infection is rare, this one in particular was more severe than any before it. The virus affected the center's two facilities, located in Lawrenceville and Duluth. Hospital Admin Goes Back to the Pre-Computer Era The computer virus infection forced staff to take the details of ... (view more)