Tech blog

PUBLICLY funded broadcaster SBS will ask for up to $20 million in extra and specially earmarked funding for its websites when it enters its first discussions with the Rudd Government for triennial finding later this year.

The national television and radio network receives $183 million each year from the Government but will increase its demands in talks later this year.

But since it has been forced through technology and user demand to ramp up its internet operations it has yet to get any extra funding, SBS digital media manager Marshall Heald told Media.

"Eighteen months ago our internet group was four blokes in the loading dock," Mr Heald said. "No one can argue that it isn’t a requirement for national broadcaster. Digital is now on the commissioning panel at SBS. Everything we do is about cross-platform programming."

SBS’s internet division has grown to about 30 people and Mr Heald was brought in to coryphaeus the business from Telstra’s BigPond division, where he led the company’s melody and video download business.

Mr Heald said SBS needed $15 million to $20 million a year for a proper online nearness.

"I would like to think that this Government would know that, given it has been so publicly supportive of innovation," he said. "In a global media environment it is important to have strong local brands online, otherwise the local culture will get swamped."

Mr Heald claimed that unlike the ABC - which received almost $1 billion in taxpayer funding each year - SBS did not have enough resources to move around to plug the internet funding gap.

Still, diverse the ABC, SBS is able to gain extra revenue through advertising sales and its websites attracted almost $1 million in reward last financial year.

That was part of $48 million in extra revenues SBS banked last financial year.

This included advertising as well as content sales and distribution, but advertising comprised $28.6 million of that total.

This year online advertising was expected to increase 70 per cent to about $1.7 million, MrHeald said.

Given the cost-cutting process being undertaken by Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, SBS is not expecting any novel funding this year.

The broadcaster has already had a preliminary meeting by the Government but a spokesperson said that detailed talks were expected to begin about the May budget.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said last night: "Public broadcasters are embracing new digital platforms and we would expect this to be part of their arguments for additional funding in the upcoming triennial funding reviews."

Last month, ABC managing director Mark Scott announced four new digital services the national broadcaster would offer audiences this year, including ABC Playback, Australia’s first internet TV service with full screen persons of rank.

Other initiatives included the launch of 60 new local online sites, the establishment of a of recent origin 24/7 "continuous news centre" and ABC Shop downloads.

Mr Heald said SBS would be launching about 40 internet initiatives this year including a new food site and an interactive Eurovision Song Contest site, where Australians can vote.

Eurovision parties will at no time be the same.

Your Comments:

1 Comment(s)

liquidpax of Sydney 1:28am today

SBS - how relevant? If SBS, a station for minorities, wants more money for digital content, then obstruction it raise this from it's existing funding advertising income and not from the taxpayer, like any other business has too.

A SECURITY lapse made it possible for unwelcome strangers to peruse personal photos posted on Facebook’s popular online hangout, circumventing a recent upgrade to the website’s retirement controls.

The Associated Press verified the loophole hind receiving a gift from a Byron Ng, a Vancouver, Canada computer technician.

Mr Ng began looking in opposition to security weaknesses last week after Facebook unveiled greater degree of ways for 67 million members to restrict access to their personal profiles.

But the added protections weren’t enough to prevent Mr Ng from pulling up the most latter pictures posted by Facebook members and their friends, even if the privacy settings were set to restrict the audience to a select few.

After being alerted Monday afternoon, Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said the party fixed the bug within an hour.

"We take privacy very seriously and continue to make enhancements to the site," she reported.

The latest lapse serves as another reminder of the perils of sharing sensitive photos and personal knowledge online, even when web sites pledge to shield the information from prying eyes.

Before the fix, Mr Ng’s computer-coding trick enabled him to find private pictures of Paris Hilton at the Emmy awards and of her brother Barron Nicholas drinking a beer with friends and photos of many other people who hadn’t granted access to Mr Ng.

Using Mr Ng’s template, an AP reporter was able to look up random people on Facebook and see the most recent pictures posted on their personal profiles even if the photos were supposed to be invisible to strangers.

The revealed snapshots showed Italian vacations, office gatherings, holiday parties and college students on spring break. The AP also was able to click through a personal photo album that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg posted in November 2005.

Some members of social networks like Facebook post photos of themselves or others in potentially embarrassing or compromising situations that include illegal drug use or underage drinking that can cause molest at school or work. None of the photos reviewed by the AP appeared to fall into this universal aspect.

Despite the risks, more people than ever - especially teenagers and young adults - are publishing personal photos and other intimate details about their lives on the internet.

MySpace.com, the only online conversable network larger than Facebook, suffered a security breach that exposed its members’ private photos earlier this year.

AP

A US-owned travel website has been stung in a crackdown by the Australian competition regulator.

Expedia’s local travel website - http://www.expedia.com.au - agreed to make different its advertising practices after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raised concerns it may have been in breach of the Trade Practices Act.

The ACCC said that a Sydney boutique hotel told the regulator that Expedia misled internet audiences into believing that its accommodation could be booked through the website when no relation between the two companies existed.

Expedia agreed to a series of measures to remedy the situation including changing the wording of booking availability advertisements on its website and removing messages for sites with which it had no business relationship.

The ACCC said it would continue to closely monitor internet advertising for breaches of the TPA.

"This matter highlights the need for businesses to remain wide-awake when advertising on the internet. The ACCC will continue to keep a close eye on the online travel industry to make sure internet marketing practices comply with the Act," the ACCC said.

By Anick Jesdanun, Associated NEW YORK — The popular video-sharing site YouTube is giving contributors more details about who’s watching their video clips and when, offering advertisers additional insights they can use to target their pitches.

The free program, known as YouTube Insight, also could help bands schedule their concerts and help anyone duration the release of a repaired video.

GOOGLE BLOG: Insight into YouTube videos

The launch of Insight on Thursday comes as Google looks for ways to make money off its $1.76 billion purchase of YouTube in 2006. Despite growing interest in online video ads, many marketers have stayed absent from user-generated video like what’s on YouTube.

Marketers who buy ads on YouTube already get a bevy of statistics about the performance of their ads. The new program breaks down viewership by day and shows the states or countries where most viewers are.

A movie studio that uploads a trailer for free on YouTube could use those details to see where the clip is most popular and perhaps buy ads targeted to users in that region — on YouTube and even on television.

further everyday contributors also can benefit from the new program, said Tracy Chan, a YouTube program manager. Until now, those users got limited information, such as how many times their video was viewed or commented on.

The new tools “give a lot of context around the performance of video over time, where are your audience approach from and how your message is connecting to your audience,” Chan said.

A band could use that information to plan stops on a tour, while video producers who find their viewership peaks on Wednesdays could remit new clips then. Likewise, producers who see their shows peaking in imitation of three weeks would know to release a new episode every three weeks, and someone whose material turns out to be popular in Spain might want to release the next video in Spanish.

“With this information, you can concentrate on creating compelling new make easy that appeals to your target audiences and post these videos on days you know these viewers are on the site,” YouTube officials said in a blog entry announcing the program.

Upcoming features may indicate how viewers find a video, through a search, an outside link or YouTube’s share-with-a-friend feature, Chan said.

The recently made known viewership breakdowns, like the running water ones, will count on the number of times users start a video but not necessarily how many finish it. Geographic information is based upon the body viewers’ numeral Internet Protocol address, the same mechanism Google uses to mark ads by region.

Some data will still be limited to paid advertisers, including information on how many viewers make it through 25%, 50% or all of a video.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cable manipulator Comcast Corp promised on Thursday to change how it manages its network in response to accusations it blocks some Internet file-sharing services because they require large amounts of bandwidth.

But Comcast’s move did not go far enough to satisfy the utmost height U.S. communications regulator. Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, vowed to continue investigating the negotiation practices of broadband providers and whether they discriminate against certain applications.

Comcast, which has greater degree than 13 million broadband subscribers, said it would adopt a new technique for managing capacity on its network by the end of 2008. The new practice will not judge nicely among different applications.

The cable giant has been accused by consumer groups of blocking some file-sharing services, such as BitTorrent, that distribute TV shows and movies on the Internet.

“This means that we will wish to rapidly reconfigure our network management systems, but the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today’s emerging Internet trends,” Comcast Chief Technology Officer Tony Werner said in a statement.

Comcast said it planned a “collaborative essay” with BitTorrent and the broader Internet and ISP community to work out a growing war of words over how far Internet service providers should go in managing traffic moving over their networks.

The dispute over so-called “net neutrality” pits open- Internet advocates against some service providers such as Comcast, which say they neediness to take just steps to manage growing traffic on their networks.

The FCC has been investigating complaints from consumer groups that Comcast blocked more file-sharing services. The issue also has attracted scrutiny from lawmakers in Congress. 

NEW YORK - Here’s a cool use with regard to a phone that has both cellular broadband and Wi-Fi: Turn it into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot so your friends can surf the Internet on their laptops.

A couple startups have created and made available software of a piece this in the last year. But a more established software maker said Wednesday that it has created a package for carriers to offer their customers.

TapRoot Systems Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said it was talking with carriers about providing their customers with the software, which would let up to five Wi-Fi users connect to a phone.

A potential frank-hearted trial version would let only undivided Wi-Fi user connect to the phone at a time.

The software works on phones with Windows Mobile or Symbian S60 software. Windows phones are common in the U.S., while Symbian is championed by Nokia Corp. and more common in Europe. There already is an voluntary program called WMWifirouter that turns Windows phones into hotspots, and there’s one called JoikuSpot for Nokia phones.

Capacity is limited on third-generation honey-combed broadband networks, and carriers are somewhat restrictive of the applications they allow, for fear their networks will be overwhelmed.

TapRoot’s system attempts to assuage that fear by the agency of letting carriers control interview through a server, said Chief Executive Bob Bicksler. The carriers could then charge extra for the service, he said.

Not many people phones have both 3G and Wi-Fi. U.S. carriers have in some cases removed or disabled Wi-Fi antennas for the U.S. launches of more phones by overseas manufacturers, apparently because they fear customers would be less likely to pay for 3G. However, combined Wi-Fi and 3G phones are becoming more common.

Bicksler mentioned AT&T Inc.’s Tilt and 8525 models and Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Mogul by HTC as phones that would work as mobile hotspots.

Another way of using a 3G network to create a Wi-Fi hotspot is to buy a Wi-Fi router that accepts a cellular broadband card. Cisco Systems Inc. makes such a router for the Sprint netting.

___

On the Net:

http://www.taprootsystems.com

http://www.wmwifirouter.com

http://www.joiku.com/

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned.

He took the first of three laptop computers– and a $10,000 cash prize– Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system, using a previously undisclosed "0day" attack.

Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the leading day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on Thursday the rules were relaxed so that attackers could dispose contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages.

Miller, best known as one of the researchers who first hacked Apple's iPhone last year, didn't deduce much time. Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest's organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on.

He was the first contestant to attempt an attack on any of the systems.

Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement to sign and he's not allowed to discuss particulars of his bug until the contest's sponsor, TippingPoint, can notify the vendor.

Contest rules state that Miller could only take advantage of software that was preinstalled upon the Mac, so the flaw he exploited fust gain been accessible, or possibly inside, Apple's Safari browser.

Last year's contest winner, Dino Dai Zovi, exploited a vulnerability in QuickTime to discover home the prize.

Dai Zovi, who congratulated Miller after his hack, didn't participate in this year's contest, saying it was time towards someone other to win.

• Read
• VIDEO
• EXPLAINER

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The parent of China Mobile (0941.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), the country’s top wireless operator, will start commercial trials of a homegrown third-generation wireless standard, TD-SCDMA, in eight cities on April 1, state media said on Friday.

Shares in several Hong Kong-listed equipment vendors, including China Communications Services Corp Ltd (0552.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) and China Wireless Technologies Ltd (2369.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), rose on Friday, as investors anticipate heavy expenditure on telecoms gear.

The commercial trials will help to improve TD-SCDMA technology, as well as provide better mobile services during the Beijing Olympics, the Xinhua news agency said on its Web place www.xinhuanet.com.

They will also help to enhance the maturity of China’s telecoms sector and improve the future competitiveness of the country’s 3G sector, Xinhua added.

TD-SCDMA stands for time division synchronous code division multiple access.

The eight cities chosen for the trials are Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Xiamen and Qinhuangdao.

Shares in China Communications Services rose 6.6 percent on Friday, while China Wireless Technologies jumped 8.2 percent and Comba Telecom Systems Holdings Ltd (2342.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 7.5 percent, versus a 2.7 percent rise in Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI.

Lenovo Group (0992.HK: Quote, Profile, Research) rose 3.5 percent.

Official broadcaster CCTV said earlier this month that the homegrown 3G standard looked ready for commercial use at the Beijing Olympics after network trials went off without a hitch.