Apple to end music restrictions

Apple Inc has agreed to start selling digital songs from its iTunes store without copy protection software.

At present, most music downloaded from Apple's iTunes store can only be played through an iTunes interface or iPod.

The agreement with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music will end digital rights management (DRM) software currently attached to iTunes music.

The changes were announced at the end of the keynote address, at the Macworld conference in San Francisco.

Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller delivered the speech, traditionally given by Steve Jobs.

"Over the last six years songs have been $0.99 [79p]. Music companies want more flexibility. Starting today, 8 million songs will be DRM free and by the end of this quarter, all 10 million songs will be DRM free," he told the crowd.

Apple has also revised its pricing structure, offering a three-tier system with songs available for £0.59, £0.79 and £0.99.

At present, the firm has a one-price-fits-all strategy - currently £0.79 per track - with no subscription fee.

The new model will have a varied pricing structure, with what the company calls "better quality iTunes Plus" costing more.

By the end of this quarter, all 10 million songs will be DRM free Phil Schiller, Apple

The move could potentially spell the end for DRM limited music, which was never popular with users or the record industry.

Mark Mulligan, a director with market analysts Jupiter Research, said the end of DRM in music- in its current form - was inevitable.

"The only reason it has taken so long is that the record industry has been trying to level the playing field, by giving away DRM free to everyone else, but even that hasn't dented Apple's share," said Mr Mulligan.

"Ultimately, what I think we're going to end up with [in the industry] is a new form of DRM. The more you pay, the less DRM you get bolted onto your music. Premium music will be DRM free, the cheaper it gets, the more shackles are attached," he added.

In 2007 Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, published an open letter called 'Thoughts on Music' in which he called on the three big record companies to ditch DRM.

iPhone helps Apple profit growth

Apple shrugged off the economic downturn to report a 15% jump in profits for the first three months of the year.

Sales of its iPhone more than doubled from the same quarter one year ago, while iPod sales also grew. However, demand for Macintosh computers dipped.

Net profit rose to $1.21bn (£0.84bn) from $1.05bn in the same quarter a year ago, on sales up 8.7% to $8.16bn.

The results sent the company's shares 2.5% higher in after-hours trading.

Analysts praised the results, especially given the economic climate, but said it was not necessarily a sign that things were set to improve in the wider market.

"Apple has been one of a few companies where business has been pretty strong throughout this economic downturn," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at Northstar Investment Management.

"It's good to see that the iPod and the iPhone are humming along."

But he added that while "any positive earnings surprise is good news" the results were "good for Apple, but not necessarily good for the whole market".

Apple sorry for 'Baby Shaker' app

Apple has apologised for a "deeply offensive" iPhone application called Baby Shaker, which made a game of quieting crying babies by shaking them.

It removed the $0.99 (£0.59) game from its iTunes Store on Wednesday, two days after it went on sale.

It sparked outrage from children's groups and brain injury foundations.

The aim of the game was to quiet babies by shaking the iPhone until a pair of thick red Xs appeared over each eye of a baby drawn in black-and-white.

"This application was deeply offensive and should not have been approved for distribution on the App Store," Apple said in a statement.

"We sincerely apologise for this mistake and thank our customers for bringing this to our attention."

But an Apple spokeswoman would not comment on why the programme - developed by a company called Sikalosoft - was approved for sale in the first place, nor how many people had downloaded it.

Campaigners' dismay

The iTunes description included the line: "See how long you can endure his or her adorable cries before you just have to find a way to quiet the baby down!"

It also included a disclaimer: "Never shake a baby."

Officials from Sikalosoft were not available for comment.

US-based organizations which seek to prevent brain injuries from Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) - including the National Centre on Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation - condemned Apple for approving the game's sale.

Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, said: "I am disheartened that with this new application Apple is encouraging frustrated adults to shake infants, not only to end their crying, but to end their lives.

"There are many effective infant soothing strategies that adults can use to calm their fussy, crying babies. Shaking is not one of them," the Daily Telegraph reported.

The outrage over Baby Shaker came as California-based Apple celebrated the one billionth download from its App Store, which was launched just nine months ago.

AMD reports loss, cautious on PC sales

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday reported a net first-quarter loss of $416 million, or 66 cents a share, though revenue exceeded estimates.

AMD also refuted Intel statements that PC sales have hit bottom, though the company said inventory problems are improving somewhat.

This loss exceeds the loss reported one year ago, when the chipmaker posted a loss of $364 million, or 60 cents a share.

Revenue hit $1.18 billion, down 21 percent from the $1.5 billion posted last year, but better than reported estimates from analysts who had expected revenue of about $1 billion.

"Considering current macroeconomic conditions, limited visibility and historical seasonal patterns, AMD expects its Product Company revenue to be down for the second quarter of 2009," the company said in a statement.

Chief Executive Dirk Meyer refuted Intel sentiment about PC sales recovering. During Intel's first-quarter earnings conference call last week CEO Paul Otellini said that PC sales had "bottomed out" during the first quarter.

"I don't know how anybody can say we've hit bottom, considering the macroeconomic outlook," Meyer said during the AMD earnings conference call Tuesday afternoon.

"The economy is still weak, making it difficult to forecast end-user demand," Meyer added. AMD's factory utilization dropped off precipitously during the Christmas time frame and underutilization continued in the first quarter, Meyer said.

The AMD CEO also said that the average selling prices of notebook PCs was down because of a "shift toward lower-cost machines," in a reference to low-cost Atom-based Netbooks, among other notebook products.

On the upside, AMD is accelerating its shipment of the six-core "Istanbul" server chip, which will now be available in June, Meyer said. And the company is readying a successor to its single-core Neo processor for low-cost ultra-thin notebooks: the dual-core Congo processor will ship "in the back half of the quarter," Meyer said.

A Matrix of HP blades

Few things are more annoying to PR folks than being all revved up for a big announcement, and then some big event comes along and sucks all the air out of the tech news cycle for the day.

That's what happened to Hewlett-Packard on Monday. The company announced its BladeSystem Matrix. AndOracle announced its decision to acquire Sun Microsystems.

Guess which won the coverage game. (And, yes, I'm one of the guilty parties.)

On a normal day
But on a normal day, Matrix would have, or at least should have, generated a lot of interest. Here's why.

First, a little background about server blades. They were initially pitched back around 2000 as a hardware-focused approach that disaggregated processing from the other components of a computer system and physically consolidated it. We still see remnants of that vision when blades are used in high-performance computing and some high-transaction Web sites.

But they've largely evolved in a different direction. Software (for management and virtualization) and a new style of integration are now the most important elements of mainstream commercial blade products. Many of the virtues extolled early-on for blades--fewer cables, better density, less physical redundancy--remain to be sure. But even if they're necessary, they're not sufficient.

Which brings us to HP BladeSystem Matrix. It's very explicitly an integration play. As HP put it to me: "Matrix is the box, the operating environment, the partners. The overarching environment. It's much more deeply integrated than just a bundle."

The box is HP c-Class blades (both Integrity and ProLiant) including HP's Virtual Connect 8Gb Fibre Channel and Flex-10 Ethernet modules. Virtual Connect essentially virtualizes LAN and SAN connections--allowing them to be switched among server blades inside the box in response to changing resource needs.

The software is something HP calls the Matrix orchestration environment. It brings together several components that HP already sells (and can also ship separately): Insight Dynamics-VSE, Orchestration, Recovery, and Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager (EM). Collectively, this software provides automated provisioning, capacity planning, and disaster recovery.

Finally, partner integration goes beyond the usual "we work with partners." Everyone does that. Specific application templates done in conjunction with the likes of SAP provide standardized (but customizable) ways of setting up complex software environments from a self-service portal.

Down this road before
HP has been down this road conceptually before.

In 2001, it offered up the Utility Data Center (UDC) as the ultimate adaptive, dynamic data center infrastructure--in other words, the sort of attributes it now associates with Matrix. But UDC was ahead of its time. It was tied to a lot of expensive, dedicated components. And it was not especially integrated with software outside of HP. Matrix--as well as other takes on dynamic data centers such as that from VMware--may incorporate proprietary technologies, but it's much more rooted in industry standards and standard components than UDC was. (CNET's Dan Farber has a 2004 take on UDC's demise .)

But the UDC vision and the things that HP learned from the experience clearly informed its work on Matrix.

One last note. I've seen some commentary in the vein of this announcement being a reaction to Cisco Systems.Cisco's Unified Computing System has justifiably grabbed a lot of attention. After all, Cisco is an industry heavyweight. And if Cisco is indeed serious about becoming a data center player beyond networking gear, that's big news.

However, Cisco is just starting out. HP is on its second major generation of blades and is building on software and earlier projects that, in some cases, go back a decade or more.

So to call Matrix a reaction to a newcomer gives Cisco more credit than it deserves at this point. Rather, I view this as HP continuing to build on existing plays that have already led its blades to the No. 1 spot.

AMD: Servers strong, mobile muted

Advanced Micro Devices' server roadmap is solid but its mainstream mobile lineup is languishing.

AMD's six-core "Istanbul" processor release was moved up to June

(Credit: AMD)

First, the good news. These days AMD is walking the talk. This is a radical change from the AMD of 2007-2008, which always seemed to have a hopper full of Intel-vanquishing paper processors that, if they did materialize, disappointed.

Fast forward to AMD's Tuesday earnings announcement, when the company said it was actually moving up the introduction its most sophisticated processor, the six-core Istanbul, to June.

And AMD has proved its silicon mettle at large server customers such as IBM and Sun Microsystems--the latter's executive vice president John Fowler had nothing but praise for AMD processors in high-end Sun server systems.

In a "Global Webcast" on server technology Wednesday, Patrick Patla, a vice president in AMD's server and workstation business, revealed a strong roadmap, saying that 8- and 12-core "Magny-Cours" processors will appear in 2010. "We're currently working on new processors which we expect will deliver more than 35 times the performance of the original single-core AMD Opteron processor released in 2003," Patla said in a statement.

Intel, of course, will also bring out many-core processors, but AMD is keeping pace, and, according to people who should know, like Sun's Fowler, maybe more than keeping pace.

Now, the bad news. This post today on CNET's Crave blog says it all: "One of our biggest issues with HP's Pavilion dv3z was its AMD processor, keeping it from beating out the performance of comparable 13- and 14-inch laptops with Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs." This is, by no means, the first review that expresses this sentiment. In short, AMD mobile platforms consistently come up short in the high-profile, burgeoning laptop market. Will AMD close the gap in 2009?

Maybe one answer to that question is AMD's Neo chip that powers the low-cost, ultra-thin HP Pavilion dv2 laptop. More than a Netbook but less than a mainstream laptop, this kind of sleek mobile device could eventually eclipse the high-end Netbook segment.

AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said Tuesday that the single-core Neo processor will get a dual-core sibling dubbed "Congo" by summer. A dual-core processor in this low-cost, MacBook-Air-for-the-masses category is a compelling proposition. AMD needs to stay ahead of the game, especially when Intel brings out chips for this category in the May-June timeframe.

T-Mobile goes for smart grids

T-Mobile USA has developed a new durable SIM card that is ideal for providing wireless connectivity to smart electric meters, as the company tries to expand its market opportunity beyond cell phones.

On Thursday, T-Mobile introduced the embedded SIM, which is much smaller than traditional SIM cards that fit into mobile phones and other mobile devices. The tiny is made out of silicon instead of plastic and is about the size of a pin head. It is designed to be durable enough to withstand environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, and motion. And as a result T-Mobile says it's ideal for applications such as smart electrical grids.

Echelon, which develops technology for smart meters used in building smart electrical grids, is the first customer to announce it is using T-Mobile's new SIM. The two companies also announced Thursday that they have developed an alliance to accelerate the adoption of smart grid technology.

Smart grids are composed of smart meters, which record more information than traditional electric meters and transmit that data over a communications network to utilities instead of having an employee periodically read the meters. The smart meters can help utilities better manage their power grid and can help people save money on their electric bill.

Improving the nation's electrical infrastructure has become an important political issue lately. And Congress has allocated $4.5 billion of economic stimulus package to develop new smart grid technology.

All four of the major wireless operators in the U.S. are gunning for a piece of this business. As cell phone penetration climbs above 85 percent, all the major wireless carriers are looking at ways to expand the market. Using a portion of those networks to provide communications and Internet access for machine to machine applications, like smart grid technology, as well as, for consumer electronics is an important opportunity, phone company executives have said.

In addition to smart grids, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have also been talking about using their networks to provide wireless to consumer gadgets. At the CTIA 2009 tradeshow in Las Vegas this month executives from AT&T and Verizon Wireless said they planned to more aggressively address this market.

Verizon has established a new Open Network Initiative to help streamline the certification process for these devices onto its network. And AT&T has created an emerging device business unit, which is headed by Glenn Lurie. This business unit is looking at devices that could use embedded wireless technology as well as new business models.

But T-Mobile claims it actually has a head start on all of these operators. John Horn, national director of the machine-to-machine business unit at T-Mobile, said the company has been providing wireless access for machine-to-machine applications for six years. A little over a year ago, T-Mobile created a separate division for its embedded device market.

Horn said that separating this business from the rest of T-Mobile has helped it better address the needs of its customers.

"Other carriers try to make machine-to-machine fit into the traditional carrier box," he said. "But it has a completely different cost structure. We aren't looking for $50 ARPUs (average revenue per user). And we don't have the same resource restraints such as subsidizing device or implementing a large customer care structure. So we are much better able to create great plans for our customers."

That said, AT&T and Verizon Wireless also recognize that different business models are required to address the machine to machine market as well as the embedded consumer device market

"We need to be more flexible," Ralph de la Vega, the head of AT&T's wireless business unit said recently. "This is a new frontier. And we need to approach it with new ideas. We can't be forced to go down an old path."

Google fixes severe Chrome security hole

Google released a new version of its Chrome browser Thursday to fix a high-severity security problem.

The problem affects Google's mainstream stable version of Chrome and is fixed in the new version 1.0.154.59 (download). Google has built Chrome so it updates itself automatically with no user intervention, though the software must be restarted for the new version to run.

The security problem, reported April 8 by Roi Saltzman of the IBM Rational Application Security Research Group, allowed cross-site scripting attacks. Such methods can make a Web browser process unauthorized code such as JavaScript, enabling a variety of attacks, including impersonation or phishing.

Mark Larson, Google Chrome program manager, described the problem this way in a blog posting Thursday:

An error in handling URLs with a chromehtml: protocol could allow an attacker to run scripts of his choosing on any page or enumerate files on the local disk under certain conditions.

If a user has Google Chrome installed, visiting an attacker-controlled Web page in Internet Explorer could have caused Google Chrome to launch, open multiple tabs, and load scripts that run after navigating to a URL of the attacker's choice. Such an attack only works if Chrome is not already running.

We've been told not to reveal secrets: Morkel

Thursday, April 23, 2009
JOHANNESBURG: South African all-rounder Albie Morkel will be pushing hard to take Chennai Super Kings to victory in the second season of the IPL but he isn't about to reveal secrets with the World Twenty20 around the corner.

Graeme Smith, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Herschelle Gibbs, Dale Steyn and Roelof van der Merwe are some of the South Africans who play for other teams in the IPL and Morkel said they had been given instructions not to reveal secrets with the World Twenty20 coming up in June.

"We've been given specific instructions by our boards not to reveal all our secrets, especially with the World Twenty20 coming up in a couple of months' time," Albie told Times of India. "It's not that we don't talk, but we don't reveal all our strategies. That is as per instructions from our boards. We cannot show off all our secret weapons and there's not much we can do about it. It's true not just for me, but for the others as well."

SRK gets hate mails for decision on Ganguly

Thursday, April 23, 2009
DURBAN: Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) owner Shah Rukh Khan on Tuesday revealed that he has been receiving strange hate mails for stripping Sourav Ganguly of KKR captaincy.

"I get strange hate mails from people for taking decision for the team's sake," Shah Rukh said after KKR tasted their first win of second IPL against Kings XI Punjab.

"But that is okay, I'm saving them all so that I can go to each house and say (the KKR anthem) 'Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo' (I'll do it, fight and win)...," he added.

In a fervent plea to the Kolkatans to stay by the side of KKR, Shah Rukh said, "Along the way if we go wrong, please feel for us and send us positive energies."

Arguably the most hyped Indian Premier League franchisee, KKR has been in the news this year since coach John Buchanan floated the multiple-captain theory which many in Kolkata saw as yet another Australian ploy to strip local favourite Sourav Ganguly of captaincy.

Buchanan's idea was eventually shelved but Ganguly didn't retain his job either as KKR named Kiwi stumper Brendon McCullum as its new captain, a decision that did not go down well in Kolkata.

Shah Rukh said it was not easy pleasing people in Kolkata where emotions run high and admitted there was tremendous pressure on his side.

"We are under a lot of pressure. We are a hyped team because the owners are from film industry and because we have the most passionate city backing us," the Bollywood actor said.

"For good and bad, the Kolkatans love us one night and one night they do get angry with our decisions. But I promise you guys that the dream I have is to come to Kolkata with the IPL trophy and dance. Will do some new steps for Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo," he said.

Incidentally, Sourav Ganguly played a cameo role in Tuesday's win with two quick wickets even though he didn't get a chance to bat.

Shah Rukh took the occasion to pledge his support for Ganguly and said for him, the former India captain remained the greatest KKR player.

"I want him to be the Player of the Tournament this year. Whoever feels he is not given importance in the team, let me tell you that for me, he is the greatest Knight Riders player. He and (Chris) Gayle will compete for the 'Player of the Tournament' award," he said.

Four-star Arshavin helps Arsenal hold Liverpool

Thursday, April 23, 2009
LIVERPOOL: Andrey Arshavin produced a stunning four-goal show to blow a huge hole in Liverpool's title dream as Arsenal secured a 4-4 draw at Anfield here on Tuesday.

The Russia striker - the first player to score four league goals in a single league match at Anfield since Dennis Westcott for Wolves in 1946 - produced a quality display as Rafa Benitez's side committed defensive suicide to leave Manchester United firm favourites to clinch their third successive domestic title.

Liverpool will be kicking themselves for failing to see off Arsenal in one of the most thrilling matches Anfield has witnessed in many a season. Arshavin sent the visitors into the lead at half-time against the run of play before two goals in six minutes at the start of the second half from Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun put Liverpool in command.

But Arshavin capped a fine display with goals in the 66th and 69th minutes before Torres made it 3-3. Still the drama was not over. After Arshavin had bagged his fourth goal in the final minute, Benayoun levelled in the dying moments.

Both Liverpool and Arsenal were hampered by injuries to key players. The hosts were once again without 21-goal Steven Gerrard while Arsenal were also handicapped by the absence of Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor, who have scored 33 times between them this term.

With Theo Walcott also on the bench, there was a suggestion that the Premier League was no longer Wenger's priority. After all, Wenger and his players have a date with another team that play in red in the Champions League semifinal next Wednesday.

Yet it is safe to assume the Arsenal manager will demand a better start from his team at Manchester United next week than they made at Anfield. Their Champions League ambitions ended for another season a week earlier by Chelsea, Liverpool were entirely focussed on the pursuit of their first title for 19 years.

Javier Mascherano flashed a 14th minute effort narrowly wide before Arsenal's stand-in keeper produced the save of the half to deny Torres his 15th goal of the season, the Polish stopper using his finger-tips to deflect the ball over the bar.

Liverpool were still in the ascendancy, Torres again frustrated by the magnificent Fabianski from long range before Daniel Agger had a glancing header cleared off the line by Samir Nasri. Not since Tim Cahill scored back in January has an opposition player found the net in the Premier League at Anfield but that ended in the 36th minute after the usually reliable Mascherano conceded possession.

That allowed Nasri to provide a delightful pass for Cesc Fabregas and he cut the ball back for Arshavin to finish off the underside of the bar. There was a chance for an immediate response after Kuyt played a through-ball to Benayoun as left-back Kieran Gibbs failed to intercept.

But the Israeli curled a left-foot shot towards goal only for Fabianski, having the game of his life, to palm the ball round the post. But for all his brave efforts, Fabianski found himself fishing the ball out of his net in the 49th minute as Torres powered an unstoppable header in front of the Kop after leaping to connect with Kuyt's cross.

Anfield was in full voice once again. But it was only the beginning of a second half full of twists and turns. Benayoun made it 2-1 when he connected with another inch-perfect cross by Kuyt only for Arshavin to make it 2-2 from 25-yards.

Arshavin then pounced on an error by Fabio Aurelio to complete a stunning hat-trick before Torres made it 3-3. Arsenal thought they had won it when Arshavin slotted his fourth in the 90th minute only for Benayoun to have the last say in a match Anfield will not forget in a hurry.

No ground big enough for Gayle: McCullum

Thursday, April 23, 2009
DURBAN: Heaving a sigh of relief after his team tasted the first win in the second Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum on Tuesday said no ground is big enough for Chris Gayle when gets going.

After the defeat against the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers in their tournament opener, the Knight Riders took match against Kings XI Punjab as an opportunity to shrug off the setback and bounce back.

The rain-interruption did help them but McCullum felt with Gayle in such ominous form, it would have been difficult to stop the rampaging left-hander.

"It was a nice result after the first match defeat and we bounced back at the right time to gain some momentum," McCullum said after Knight Riders won the rain-marred match by 11 runs via Duckworth-Lewis method with Gayle remaining unbeaten on 44 from 26 balls.

"Chris played really magnificent upfront. It was tough batting on out there for everyone except Chris. And when he hits the ball so well as he did today, no ground is big enough for him," McCullum said of the talismanic West Indian.

McCullum's opposite number Yuvraj Singh, meanwhile, was sombre after Kings XI Punjab found themselves at the wrong side of yet another rain-curtailed match and admitted the bowling department lacked both firepower and sting.

"It was bit unfortunate again," said the left-hander. "We dropped a couple of catches, then came rain and Duckworth-Lewis method. It was just not our day," he rued.

Conceding the side would have to sort out bowling woes to bounce back in the tournament, Yuvraj said, "Hopefully we will get (the injured duo of) Sreesanth and Brett Lee as early as possible. The next games are more important to us than those were before and we need to pick up the points now."

Gayle too lamented the "silly finish" to the game but was happy to be among the runs.

"It was a good innings I guess. Brendon (McCullum) at the other end took pressure off me," he said.

Asked if he walked out with the sole intention of going bang-bang right from the first ball, Gayle said, "Not really. I knew it was important to see the first two overs. Once you are through that, you can pick it from there."

Modi unhappy over Pietersen's dissent

Thursday, April 23, 2009
PORT ELIZABETH: Not pleased with Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Kevin Pietersen's dissent on an umpiring decision, Indian Premier League Chairman Lalit Modi has asked players to behave like role models and uphold the spirit of cricket.

"Every incident in IPL is being closely monitored... We have a zero-tolerance policy on player indiscipline and will take all necessary steps to ensure that the game is played in the true spirit of cricket," Modi said after Pietersen was let off with a warning for showing dissent on Australian umpire Simon Taufel's LBW decision against him in an IPL match against Chennai Super Kings.

"Cricketers need to realise that they are huge role models for an entire generation of youth and it is crucial for youngsters all over the world to learn the values of this great game and the spirit in which it should be played.

"The eyes of the world are on the DLF Indian Premier League and we want to see cricket, and the spirit of cricket, at its best," he said.

The displeasure notwithstanding, Modi said he would hoping that both Pietersen and Chennai's Andrew Flintoff return for the knock-out stages of IPL if their franchises advance that far.

"We would like to hope they can make it back and we will try to work it out. But at the end of the day it's a decision between them and the ECB," he was quoted as saying by 'The Guardian'.

However, the duo's national commitment make that next to impossible as the IPL semifinals are on May 22 and 23, with the final a day later and England play One-day Internationals against West Indies on May 21 and 24.

Modi also tried to stress the improved nature of relations between English and Indian cricket authorities and even suggested that the ECB could assume a financial stake in the Twenty20 Champions League, which was until now a cash cow only for India, Australia and South Africa.

"The matter is open. Anything can change and it's not a closed subject at all. The idea is we want to build the league up. The ECB and the BCCI had a rocky start because everyone is wary at the beginning or protecting their own territory, but we have a good relationship with them now and we hope to build on it going forward."

Lee not fit for Pakistan series

Fast bowler Brett Lee has been ruled out of Australia's forthcoming limited overs series against Pakistan.

The 32-year-old had been included in a 14-man squad following ankle surgery in January, but has yet to fully regain his bowling fitness.

"The selection panel wants to take a careful approach to his return," said selection chairman Andrew Hilditch.

New South Wales seamer Doug Bollinger has been drafted into the squad for the tour to the United Arab Emirates.

Australia, currently preparing for the final one-day match against South Africa in Johannesburg on Friday, drafted in seamer Stuart Clark for the Pakistan series after Brett Geeves was forced to return to Australia with a broken foot.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Bollinger's selection

Lee, currently in South Africa training with his Indian Premier League team King's XI Punjab, will not travel with the Australian team to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

"Brett will remain in South Africa to continue the rehabilitation program and gradually increase his bowling volume and intensity," said Australia physiotherapist Alex Kountouris.

Bluetooth 3.0 officially launched

Fans of wireless communications technology remember this week: Bluetooth 3.0 has gone official.

As reported by PC Magazine, the latest revision to the Bluetooth Core Specification was officially unveiled earlier this week – and it brings some nice new features to the party.

Building on the existing Bluetooth technology, Bluetooth 3.0 increases the speed of data transfer dramatically by piggybacking on available 802.11 wireless network connections – borrowing a small chunk of their bandwidth in order to shuffle data faster. While this functionality requires a second radio – either 802.11g or 802.11n – it does boost throughput to a not unimpressive 24Mb/s.

With Broadcom, Atheros, Nordic Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, and Cambridge Silicon Radio all having finalised chip designs for the new standard it's thought that consumer devices featuring Bluetooth 3.0 support could hit the market before the end of the year. Even better is the news from special interest group chairman Mike Foley who announced that “any phone or computer that has Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a 802.11g card may be able to be updated to Bluetooth 3.0 via driver, firmware, or software update.” There's a clear “may” in that statement, but it at least holds the promise that some existing devices will be able to enjoy the speed boost brought by Bluetooth 3.0.

Sadly for anyone who uses Bluetooth to stream audio, while data transfer speeds were a clear selling point of the 3.0 specification revision, audio quality wasn't. With many existing Bluetooth audio implementations proving disappointing – including the newer A2DP technology – hopes that Bluetooth 3.0 would resolve the issues appear dashed.