Firefox to force secure connections for selected domains
Mozilla introduced a pre-loaded list of domains for Firefox that only can be connected to securely in order to help protect the privacy and security of users.
Stories by Loek Essers
UK governments must comply with open standards
All governmental bodies in the U.K. must now comply with open standards to prevent vendor lock-in and stimulate interoperability of government IT, the Minister for Cabinet Office announced on Thursday.
Two major Dutch banks to introduce contactless debit cards
Major Dutch banks ING and ABN Amro will introduce MasterCard PayPass contactless payment cards to their customers by mid-2013, making the Netherlands the largest PayPass debit card country in Europe, MasterCard announced on Wednesday.
Microsoft's browser choice error may have cost Firefox 9 million downloads, Mozilla says
Daily Firefox downloads decreased by 63 percent during the nearly 15 months that Microsoft failed to show users of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 a court-mandated browser choice screen, according to figures released by Mozilla.
Smartphone card payments startup iZettle to expand its territory to Germany
Swedish smartphone card payments startup iZettle will expand its territory to Germany by partnering with Deutsche Telekom and the German DZ Bank.
France could start taxing Google for republishing news snippets, president warns
France may introduce a law to make Google pay to republish news snippets if it doesn't strike a deal with French news publishers before the end of the year, the office of French President François Hollande said on Monday.
Privacy International warns of public transit card hazards
Public transportation companies and authorities in the U.S., Canada and South Africa hand over private information about travelers gathered by electronic ticketing systems to law enforcement agencies on a voluntary basis, Privacy International said Monday.
Burda raises stake and bids for rest of Xing, 'LinkedIn of Germany'
German publisher Burda Digital has increased its stake in professional social network Xing to 38.89 percent, triggering a disclosure requirement and a mandatory offer to minority stakeholders. Burda is offering €44 per share, almost €7 more per share than Thursday's closing price.
Apple increases App Store prices in Europe
Apple has increased the prices of apps sold through its iTunes App Store in Europe because of exchange rate changes, it said on Friday. The minimum price for an app in the Euro zone rose to €0.89 ($1.15) from €0.79.
New levies on smartphones and tablets must compensate for Dutch home copying
Buyers of smartphones, tablets and MP3 players must pay a levy of up to €5 (US$6.5) in the Netherlands as of January 2013 to compensate for loss of income to the music and film industries caused by private copying, the Dutch ministry of Security and Justice announced on Thursday.
EU antitrust regulator files complaint against Microsoft for breaching browser choice order
The European Commission has made a formal statement of objections to Microsoft over the company's failure to fulfill its commitment to offer Windows users a free choice of browser in settlement of an earlier antitrust case, the Commission said on Wednesday.
Samsung does not infringe on Apple's multitouch patent, Dutch court rules
Samsung's Galaxy devices don't infringe on an Apple multitouch patent that describes technology that prevents smartphone users from pushing two on-screen buttons at the same time, the Court of the Hague ruled on Wednesday. The technique used in Android is sufficiently different from Apple's patent, the judge said.
Apple's 'overscroll bounce' patent tentatively declared invalid in the US
One of the seven patents at the heart of Apple's US$1.05 billion lawsuit against Samsung Electronics has been tentatively rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), according to documents filed by Samsung with a Californian court late on Monday.
Facebook prepares to use 'cold storage' to deal with vast amounts of data
Facebook is rethinking the way it stores data to cope with the 7 petabytes of new photos the social network's users upload every month. As the number of photos grows, Facebook needs find cheaper, less power-hungry ways to store them all, according to the company's vice-president of infrastructure engineering.
Ericsson readies Wi-Fi system optimized for sports stadiums
Ericsson has unveiled a Wi-Fi access point and controller for offloading cellular traffic in densely populated areas such as stadiums. Its goal is to allow users to switch seamlessly from the cellular network to a local Wi-Fi network to solve network congestion problems.