In short

Today's other stories in brief

Telecoms firm wins contract in Egypt

Irish telecoms software firm Openmind Networks has won a contract with Vodafone Egypt for its Traffic Control product which gives operators greater control over the routing of messages on their network. Chief executive of Openmind, Alex Duncan, said the contract would enable Vodafone to increase its messaging capacity and "create a newer, richer messaging network".

While Traffic Control is primarily designed to enable mobile operators better manage text and multimedia messages, Openmind has developed a number of extensions which address issues such as spam and privacy protection. Vodafone Egypt has more than 16.4 million customers. Openmind is also understood to have won a number of major contracts with operators in eastern Europe in recent months.

Groove Armada moves music online

British dance act Groove Armada is the latest band to make its music freely available online. It has teamed up with Bacardi to release a mini-album at www.bliveshare.com. The site enables people who download the mini-album to share it with other users to receive further rewards. The site also offers widgets that can be integrated into social networking sites.

“We wanted to come up with a 21st century version of what we used to do with cassette tapes,” said Andy Cato of Groove Armada. “When you give music away for free it’s disposable. When you share it, it’s done with love.”

Free gadgets forecast for 2009

Deloitte’s technology, media and telecommunications consultants have released their predictions for 2009. With consumer confidence hitting new lows, they predict gadgets will increasingly be provided for free, provided users sign up for a service contract, eg free PCs with broadband subscriptions, satellite navigation systems for free when you subscribe to future map updates or possibly the bundling of televisions with high definition or subscription channel services.

Other predictions include a doubling in mobile broadband numbers, increasing litigation around digital content and falling efficiency of digital communications as a result of their overuse.

Spammers target networking sites

Spammers are increasingly targeting social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, computer experts have warned.

Growing numbers of cyber-criminals try to trick users into revealing passwords so they can hijack their personal profiles and send out messages promoting everything from pornography to medication.

The US retains its crown as global spam king, being responsible for relaying 19.8 per cent of unwanted e-mails between October and December last year. – (PA)