Firefox arrives

It’s here – release 1.0 of Firefox is now available for download. Mozilla will be holding a launch extravaganza today from 22:00 GMT, running through until 03:00 GMT tomorrow morning: We will be hosting AIR MOZILLA live from the Mozilla Foundation HQ, a 5 hour web event, including a live webcast and text chat. The […]

Engadget interviews Skype

Engadget has a lengthy interview with Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas Zennström about the future of voice communication, using Skype through wi-fi handhelds, and the coming death of the telecom dinosaurs. (A reminder of what Skype is – free software that lets you make free phone calls from your computer to other Skype users anywhere […]

Today’s rich miscellany

Business, communication and technology news snipped from my RSS feeds today: Microsoft to Launch Fresh Challenge to Google, Yahoo (Wall Street Journal) – Microsoft Corp. tomorrow will start its long-awaited Internet search service, adding fresh competition to Google Inc. Firefox and Beyond: Mozilla President Browses the Future (eWeek) – As Mozilla launches Firefox for the […]

Using Gmail with Outlook

Coming soon – the ability to access your Gmail account via desktop applications like Outlook. The Industry Standard reports that Google will roll out POP3 support gradually over the coming weeks to Gmail users, who will be able to use the feature to download email from Gmail servers to email applications on PCs and wireless […]

Cool Konfabulator

Using the new Konfabulator for Windows since it was released on Monday, I can already say – very cool, useful functionality and a worthy enhancement to the Windows desktop. For instance, I very much like being able to see at a glance what the weather’s like in Amsterdam (or just about any other city; data […]

eBay expands in The Netherlands

eBay is buying Marktplaats, the biggest online buy/sell site in The Netherlands, the Wall Street Journal reports today, for about €225 million. eBay said it wanted to strengthen its position in The Netherlands, where 70% of the population uses the internet (that’s about 11 million people) and there is a strong and historic tradition of […]

Kinja for handy digests

I discovered Kinja today. It’s been around a while, since early this year, but I’d not seen it before. What a neat service! In essence, it’s a portal that contains digests of posts from blogs that you’re interested in. Once you’ve opened your free account, you set it up with the URLs of blogs you […]

Podcast your voice brand

Music and sound can be an integral part of a business’s brand, say Fast Company and Strategize. Many leaders listen to music to inspire creativity and innovation. And it’s been found that corporate voicemail welcome messages can make an impact on your business and bottom line. The Top 100 Voice Brands project collects recordings of […]

Instant messaging crossovers

A survey by the META Group published in late October shows that 57 percent of respondents use instant messaging (IM) at work for personal reasons, while 56 percent of those surveyed use IM at home for business purposes, reports eWeek. According to the survey, US companies that have tried to restrict messaging have taken a […]

Use your normal phone with Skype

I find Skype a very useful communication tool, as I’ve posted about before (here and here, for example). Free calls to other Skype users, great connectivity and, for calling normal phones, very low cost. But I’ve often thought, wouldn’t it be great if I could connect a normal phone handset, wired or wireless, to the […]

SOX compliance today – and it’s not cheap

Today is the day that Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act comes into effect. Section 404 says that publicly-listed companies in the US must have in place an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting, and holds corporate management accountable for inadequate controls. To ensure compliance with Section 404, enterprises must have data […]

Blogger.com now in 10 languages

Google has launched 9 internationalized language versions of its Blogger free blog hosting service, according to an Infoworld report. Key Blogger sections, such as its sign-in and account pages, are now available in Japanese, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Korean, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Brazilian Portuguese, in addition to English, making 10 languages in total. […]

Flight check-in with your mobile phone

Coming next year – check in for your flight, change your seat, baggage drop-off info, all via your mobile phone. Reuters reports that Siemens of Germany and Amsterdam-based SITA Inc have teamed up to develop the service, which uses GPRS for sending information to mobile phones. Reuters | Speedy Plane Check-In by Mobile Phone Set […]

British Library wifi hotspot

Visitors to the British Library in London will be able to get wireless internet access alongside the extensive information available in its famous reading rooms. Broadband wireless connectivity will be made available in the eleven reading rooms, the auditorium, café, restaurant, and outdoor piazza area. A study revealed that 86% of visitors to the Library […]