Morning Broadband Bytes - 1) Get Coffee 2) Read Morning Broadband Bytes 3) Start Day

•Around the Industry:
DSL Slowdown in US?
Demon for sale - any takers?
Free Wi-Fi makes people spend more
Report: Many U.S. consumers have 3G, but don't use it
TVUPlayer: Another Napster?
Election ads join the broadband revolution
•SecurityBits:
Zero Day XSS flaw found in MySpace
Microsoft: Bot, trojan infections high; rootkits low
Security vendor bypasses Vista PatchGuard
•TidBytes:
Opera Launches Mini Browser for BlackBerry, Treo
MPAA Helps New York City Down The Path Of Pointless Legislation
Windows Defender Goes Gold, Removes Win2K Support
Yahoo makes Internet bookmarks ready to share
•More news from around the industry, SecurityBits, and interesting Tidbytes inside!

Around The Industry:
•DSL Slowdown in US?:
Om Malik comments: "Of the six major DSL providers, two of the biggest are showing signs of a DSL slowdown. BellSouth reported its 3Q earnings today and said that the company had added 176,000 new DSL subscribers, up from 128,000 in second quarter 2006 but down when compared to 205,000 net additions in third quarter of 2005. AT&T, which is about to gulp down BellSouth had reported a similar slowdown yesterday. AT&T had added 374,000 new DSL customers, which compared poorly with 529,000 net sign-up for the same quarter last year. It is too soon to read too much into these numbers, however, if you were to twist my arm, I would say - the market is getting pretty saturated."
•Demon for sale... any takers?:
Demon, once the largest UK ISP is up for sale by owners Thus. Founded in 1992 Demon was acquired by the Scottish telecom in 1998 for £6.66 million (a unique number for Demon!) but has suffered in the broadband boom and saw it's profits fall 15% last year. It's home broadband business boasts 50,000 users which contrasts to the 180,000 subscribers when bought by Thus, but still managed a profit of £27.7 million. Analysts put a valuation of £15m to £20m on Demon's domestic business, as Thus plans to retain the small and medium sized business customer base. It's Dutch counterpart, Demon Netherlands, was sold to KPN earlier this year for £47m.
•Free Wi-Fi makes people spend more:
ADSLguide reports: "Free-Hotspot.com has published a survey carried out over 6 European countries and interviewing 1000 Wi-Fi users. The conclusions were that 64% were more willing to buy something from a business offering free Wi-Fi and 96% would return again. This is perhaps not rocket science, since most people would rather use a free service than pay £5 for a one hour Wi-Fi access token. Among business travellers one suspects that many do look to find a hotel that offers free Wi-Fi access in the cost of the room."
•Report: Many U.S. consumers have 3G, but don't use it:
According to the results of the survey by TNS Global Technology Insights, just 16% of U.S. consumers with cell phones have 3G handsets and of that amount just 10% make use of the advanced 3G functionality contained in their phones. TNS said most U.S. consumers don't seem to realize the power of the technology in their 3G phones. "It's similar to the evolution from dial-up Internet to cable modems or DSL. It took consumers a period of time to understand how much faster they could access the Internet with cable and DSL compared to their dial-up modems."
•TVUPlayer: Another Napster?:
By streaming video of popular TV programs over the Web, a self-described P2P service called TVUPlayer has begun to draw a loyal worldwide following. The service, however, could also become an enticing target for Hollywood legal eagles with an eye out for copyright infringement. Indeed, TVUPlayer, offered by a Chinese company called TVU Networks, looks to some like it could draw legal challenges similar to those faced by the early Napster P2P service, which became a pinata for litigious lawyers because of what some described as copyright violations on a massive scale. Blogs reporting on the TVUPlayer's popularity have noted the questions about the service's legality. Because TVU displays each broadcaster's commercials, some early reports have said TVU Networks is operating in a gray area of the law.
•Election ads join the broadband revolution:
American political campaigns haven't quite caught onto the broadband video revolution, but a trickle of activity has begun in several key races as Election Day 2006 nears. And while this year is relatively quiet, observers say that the surging interest in online video coupled with an expanding political Web universe sets up 2008 as a potential breakthrough year for digital political advertising. The fact that more activity isn't happening on the Web this year, given all the attention the medium received during the 2004 presidential campaign, is "truly a disappointment," said consultancy Borrell Associates. While Borrell claims that local media sites actually have plenty of inventory to sell, neither the sites nor political media consultants have caught up to changing media dynamics, and are wary of experimentation.
•GoTV gets inot the millions after feal with Verizon:
David Bluhm, CEO for the mobile television network, said in an interview that GoTV will support Verizon Wireless subscribers with sports shows for cellular phones. Content includes fantasy sports that allow fans to track teams, player statistics and scores. "We'll produce most of the content for Verizon's VCAST Sports," he said. Adding Verizon Wireless's 1.2 million customers brings GoTV's viewers into the millions. Content also is available to Sprint, Nextel, Cingular Wireless and Boost Mobile network customers.
•Broadband series "Inturn" finds work at CBS:
"Inturn," the online series that ran on CBS' Innertube broadband channel, is getting promoted to a one-hour broadcast slot. The network will air a compilation episode featuring highlights from the show's 24 episodes streamed on Innertube, which can be accessed through CBS.com. The move marks the first time CBS will air a show created exclusively for the Web on TV. As further demonstration of the opposite trend by networks to blend online distribution with TV, Fox said it will debut the 4th-season premiere of "The O.C." online before its broadcast premiere.
•Australian enterprise turns its back on IPTV:
Australian enterprise has turned its back on IPTV due to expensive broadband pricing. While end-user hardware is capable of handling IPTV and broadband adoption is increasing, data bandwidth pricing coupled with Australia's slow uptake of technology could hold it back five to six years. "Australia's adoption of IPTV is trivial [as] successful business models, revenues and cost savings haven't been determined." The increasing adoption of broadband, the gradual migration to ADSL2+ and eventual FTTN will feed IPTV into the mass market.
•Cox: Its not all about video:
Cox Communications said it now has an industry-leading 432,000 nonvideo subscribers, up 21% from the same period one year ago. The MSO said it now has more than 3.2 million broadband subscribers, up 18% compared with the year-ago period. As for telephony, Cox now has 1.9 million customers, up 24%. On the video front, the operator said basic subscriptions rose 1.6% to 5.4 million and digital customers were up 14% to 2.7 million.

SecurityBits:
•Zero Day XSS flaw found in MySpace:
A researcher has published proof-of-concept code on a zero-day vulnerability he found on MySpace.com -- and another variation on the cross-site scripting (XSS) theme. Called XSS fragmentation, the vulnerability consists of multiple chunks, or fragments, of JavaScript malware that can slip by a filter or firewall because individually they don't constitute a security risk. But when they are combined after hitting the site, they can then be dangerous. XSS fragmentation is rare, but a potentially powerful vulnerability that could be used against community-based sites such as MySpace or Web-based mail systems, security experts say.
•Microsoft: Bot, trojan infections high; rootkits low:
Of the 4 million computers cleaned by MS's MSRT (malicious software removal tool), about 50% (2 million) contained at least one backdoor Trojan. While this is a high percentage, MS notes that this is a decrease from the second half of 2005. During that period, the MSRT data showed that 68% of machines cleaned by the tool contained a backdoor Trojan. Despite increased industry interest in Windows rootkits in 2005, MS found a surprising 50% reduction in the attacks, which employ stealthy tricks to maintain an undetectable presence on infected computers. "This is a potential trend that will bear watching," the report said.
•Security vendor bypasses Vista PatchGuard:
Security software maker Authentium says that it has built a version of its Authentium ESP Enterprise Platform that can bypass PatchGuard without setting off the desktop alarms produced by the security feature when the Vista kernel is compromised. At its core, PatchGuard is meant to block any application from accessing, or "hooking" Vista's kernel commands, a technique utilized by vendors in sophisticated anti-tampering and behavior monitoring tools, and used by hackers in attacking computer systems with rootkits. Some companies, including market leaders Symantec and McAfee, have complained that the feature makes it impossible for some of their cutting-edge technologies to interoperate with Vista.

Hardware, Software, and other TidBytes:
•Opera Launches Mini Browser for BlackBerry, Treo
•MPAA Helps New York City Down The Path Of Pointless Legislation
•Windows Defender Goes Gold, Removes Win2K Support
•Yahoo makes Internet bookmarks ready to share
•Arkansas settles anti-trust dispute with Microsoft
•Florida 'botmaster' charged with Akamai DDOS attack
•Verizon Wireless Delivers North America's First Flash Enabled Mobile Applications

TVUPlayer

Re: TVUPlayer

Re: TVUPlayer

Re: TVUPlayer

WOW

3G

Re: 3G