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Warner Bros turn to iTunes

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group became the latest division of a major Hollywood studio to offer television shows, including the hit sitcom "Friends," for sale on Apple Computer Inc's iTunes Web site. (This is different from NBC where NBC only offer the previews)

Warner Bros put up a total of 113 episodes of "Friends," sci-fi series "Babylon 5," the animated classics "The Jetsons" and "The Flintstones," as well as skits from "MADtv" and an unaired pilot called "Aquaman" by the writers of "Smallville."

Downloads cost US$1.99 per episode, and can be viewed on a computer or video iPod.

Apple's iTunes store now offers a total of more than 150 TV shows available for purchase from the Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS and MTV networks.

Fox is a unit of News Corp. ABC is owned by Walt Disney Co.. NBC is run by the NBC Universal wing of General Electric Co. CBS is part of CBS Corp, and MTV is owned by Viacom Inc.

(Source: YahooNews)

Usage of web in China is flying high

News from CNN.com

• China's population of the internet users is no 2 after US with 123 million.
• US is currently leading with 204 million Internet users.

The number of Web sites in China rose by more than 110,000 to a total of 788,400, the official China Internet Network Information Center said in an annual survey.

China encourages Internet use for business and education and has invested heavily in broadband service, though the communist government tries to bar access to material considered pornographic or subversive.

The number of Internet users in China with broadband service jumped by 45 percent over the past year to 77 million, or about two-thirds of the total online population, the Internet agency said.

The average Chinese Internet user now spends 16.5 hours per week online, a new record high, the agency said.

Organisations Not Doing Enough to Secure Data

A new survey shows that organisations are not doing enough to prevent IT data breaches and the loss of "sensitive" data.

The survey is based on interviews with 359 executives responsible for security, compliance, risk management and legal issues at large organisations in North America.

Facts highlighted:

• A total of 94 percent of respondents reported having no visibility into how many e-mail messages containing confidential or private information were leaving their organization each month or believed that some leaks were occurring.
• Only 6 percent reported no information leaks.
• A total of 80 percent of participants reported having information leaks -- through e-mail or other electronic channels such as Blackberrys or HTTP links -- or admitted to no visibility to leaks that occurred within their organization last year.
• About 17 percent were afraid to know how many leaks they had.

It is not just small companies who are laggards with security measures. The world's biggest employer, the U.S. government, has performed poorly in this area of content security.

Click here for more reading.

Viewing the preview of future TV shows - NBC Promotional Strategy

Fancy of viewing the coming some of the popular dramas sequel before it is being aired?

You may try YouTube as NBC will YouTube video-sharing site to promote its fall television lineup in a strategic partnership that further underscores the Internet's growing role in generating buzz around traditional media shows.

The deal will highlight promos made by or for NBC. They may include clips from new shows or old ones such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," behind-the-scenes interviews and other features largely exclusive to the Internet. NBC also is sponsoring a contest for fans.

YouTube will create a separate channel for NBC video, so that visitors can easily pull up the half-dozen or more items that NBC plans to offer at any given time. It will be similar to channels that other companies, filmmakers and everyday users create.

What is YouTube?
YouTube is, by some measures, the leading video-sharing site on the Internet with its 13 million U.S. visitors viewing 550 million pages in May, according to comScore Media Metrix. YouTube says 60,000 new videos are posted daily.

The site lets amateurs and professionals alike post video -- many of them simply unedited footage from video-capable camera phones and digital cameras -- and easily share them with the entire world for free.

Full story is available here.

Spamming list - US at the top

According to the most recent "Dirty Dozen" report from security firm Sophos, the United States is the nation that leads the world in terms of how much spam passes through its e-mail networks.

Some interesting facts:
1. United States - 23.2% of world spamming.
2. China - 20%
3. South Korea - 7.5%

• While the United States accounts for the highest spam output as a country, together China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan account for almost half of the worldwide spam output, making Asia the top offending continent with 40.2 percent of all spam.
• Europe surpassed third-place North America, rising to the second position among continents, with a marked rise from the first quarter of 2006 due to increased zombie activity.
• South America ranked fourth with 5.5 percent while Australia and Africa tied for fifth with 0.7 percent each.

How:
The vast majority of spam is relayed by "zombies," also known as botnet computers, which have been hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses, according to Sophos. Once the hackers take control of infected computers, cyber criminals can use them to blast out spam messages.

Legal implication so far:
Although there have been a few high-profile prosecutions of spammers, the spammers' risk versus reward analysis weighs heavy on the reward side.

More reading on this article.

Selling fish online in Malaysia

Fishermen in Tanjung Dawai have gone the Internet way, auctioning their catches via e-mail.

Bidders from all over the world are welcome to place bids from 3pm to 7pm Malaysian time every day in a system that was introduced in April. In this case, the bidders must bear the transportation costs and the system was set up with the help of the Malaysia Fisheries Development Board.

The Tanjung Dawai Fishermen Association has installed three computers and three 29-inch televisions to display the bidding list.

Bidders state their price by e-mailing to pnktdawai@yahoo. com and their prices will be flashed on the television sets for fishermen gathered at the auction hall. If there is agreement, then the bidders will be emailed. The bidders must register their name with the association (by calling 04-4572106) and a code number will be provided to participate in the bidding.

The system benefited the fishermen as they could get the best deal. The association would impose a 5% surcharge on the buyers and hoping to create its own website one day.