Technology news

Published on Saturday 19 July 2008 19:36

ONLINE SALES SOAR

Shoppers spent 38% more online in the first six months of 2008 than the same period last year. Figures show shoppers have spent more than 26.5bn online so far this year compared with 19.2bn in the first half of 2007, according to the e-retail sales index.

Internet shopping made up 17p in every 1 of retail spending this year, according to IMRG and Capgemini, which predicted that between 30% and 50% of all retail would be made online in the next five years.

INTERNET SAFETY

Not enough is being done to protect children using the internet, the head of the UK unit dedicated to tackling online paedophiles has warned.

Police, governments and industry giants have yet to decide how to target predators in the virtual world, Jim Gamble said.

Speaking at the start of a youth conference on internet security, Mr Gamble said more work is needed to safeguard curious and computer-savvy youngsters.

MOBILE CRACKDOWN

Tougher rules to protect consumers from unsolicited mobile phone services and intrusive text messages could be in place by the winter.

Operators will be forced to introduce clearer pricing for premium rate mobile phone content and will not be allowed to sign consumers up to subscription services without their express approval, regulator PhonepayPlus said.

Under a separate rule, any subscription service that prevents customers from stopping it easily and quickly will be immediately shut down.

The move follows a 108% increase in complaints to PhonepayPlus compared with the year before.

GAMING BOOMTIME

Figures from ELSPA (the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers' Association) and Chart-Track – the company that tracks games sales in the UK – show software sales for the first six months of 2008 are up on almost all games formats, generating 738m in revenue. That works out at 31.3 million games being sold – an increase of more than 42% on 2007's figures for the same period.

Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, and DS games accounted for a hefty 690m of the total, with PC games contributing just 48 million (just 3.9 million games sold) – down 29%.

SPACEDOCK FITTED

The commander and lead engineer aboard the International Space Station completed a six-hour spacewalk last week to prepare another parking spot for when the outpost's crew doubles to six.

Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko installed a docking target, inspected an antenna connection and handled other tasks so in future spaceships can automatically berth at the orbital outpost.