Makers of hit series '24' are creating a spin-off series to be shown exclusively on mobile phone. The one minute "mobisodes" will air on Vodafone from January.

Alternative web browser Firefox launched this week to critical acclaim. The browser has lots of innovative features and is more secure than Internet Explorer.

Rock band Rooster have played a gig via mobile phone. The 45 minute show was "phone-cast" on the 3 network. Fans had to pay £5 and needed a 3G video handset to "get into" the gig. Further virtual concerts are planned for 2005.

Microsoft is due to launch a second version of the Windows XP operating system in mid 2005. Called XP Release 2, it will feature improved security, firewalling, quarantining and behaviour blocking.

eGay.co.uk launched, offering auctions for gays and lesbians.

Robbie Williams' recently released Greatest Hits album is also being sold in memory card format for mobile phones and hand-held computers. The MMC version of the album includes additional video content and retails at £29.99.

AOL has dropped Overture in favour of Google Adwords

One in 10 UK companies now allocates at least 10% of its advertising budget to the Web, according to a new survey.

Napster is offering pre-pay cards for buying downloads, thereby allowing under-18s without credit or debit cards the ability to buy music online.

Apple has announced a 50% increase in fourth quarter profits. The company attributes the growth to demand for the latest version of the iPod - sales having reached more than two million.

Google launched its shopping price comparison website Froogle in the UK.

FundsReunited.com has recently launched offering members the chance to be reunited with their mislaid assets. Apparently, over £20bn remains unaccounted for in the UK.

Most popular operating systems

1. Windows 97.5%
2. Apple Mac 2%
3. Linux 0.5%

Domain name rules change could damage your brand

New rules for domain transfers came into force today which places the onus on the owner of the domain to deny a transfer request made by a third party - or risk losing it. A domain name is the web site name – often the same as the brand or company name. Previously, domain owners had to acknowledge a request to authorise a transfer, so doing nothing was risk free. Now doing nothing is not an option.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which controls the allocation of domains, has changed the rules so that requests for transferring a domain will now be automatically approved after five days unless it is denied by the owner.

The inherent problem with this new system is that if your contact details assigned to the domain are wrong, you risk not being informed of a transfer request and thus will be not get the opportunity to deny it within the 5-day limit.

The change will make it much easier for cyber-squatters to steal domain names or for company’s without a sound domain policy to lose domain names by accident. We recommend that every company urgently review their domain name contact details to ensure they are up-to-date.

Euro domain names at least a year away

Despite what some less scrupulous domain registration companies may be telling you, the .eu domain is still some way off being made available, with best estimates being around this time next year.

EURid the non-profit making organisation responsible for the domain, finally signed a service concession contract with the European Commission to operate the .eu registry last month. This allows the Commission to formally notify ICANN and allow official negotiations to commence between EURid and ICANN to have .eu added to the Internet.

However, it will still require around 6-9 months after contractual matters are concluded before .eu registrations can commence, starting with a 4-month 'sunrise' period which is a requirement of the European Commission's Public Policy Rules for .eu.

The 'sunrise' period is a phased registration process which seeks to avoid the 'goldrush' mentality of past domain launches, by putting in place a formal dispute resolution process to decide who has the rights to any disputed .eu domain.

EURid is currently working on the initial registration policy which includes the rules for the sunrise period, a Whois policy and an alternative dispute resolution process. This will involve consulting with the European Commission and other relevant third parties before finalising the registrar agreement and registrant terms and conditions. These all need to be translated into the 20 official European languages too.

Only after this, will EURid begin to accredit a network of .eu registrars who will be able to take .eu domain pre-registrations in preparation of the official launch. This first phase of the sunrise period is expected to start within eight or nine months of the finalisation of the registrar agreement, with phase 2 of the sunrise period starting two months later.

It will be a further four months before the sunrise period finishes and registrations will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. We will, of course, keep you posted.

Whitehall shifts digital priorities

Ian Watmore has been appointed the new head of e-government. This is a new job title which replaces his predecessor Andrew Pinder's moniker of e-envoy. Gone also is much of the evangelising that went with the title.

Mr Watmore's focus instead will be on putting Whitehall's house in order as he heads up the government''s new e-government unit. Many see this as a response by the Government to get better control over technology projects which in the past have gone hugely over budget or haven't worked properly.

Mr Watmore's remit will range from the systems that calculate income taxes and benefits to IT support for public servants such as teachers and the police. He will still, however, have responsibility for providing content that people want to use, with his aim being to move away from simply providing lots of information to offering fewer, but better targeted, services.

Only on the web:

Some of you really organised people might be thinking of wrapping your Christmas presents already, but for those of you who leave it until Christmas Eve, here's some virtual bubble-wrap to keep you busy…
http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/bubble-wrap.swf

Blatant plug:

Here at experience engine we're all big kids. So we were extra specially excited to win the e-commerce maintenance contract for "the most famous toy shop in the world" - Hamleys.
www.hamleys.com

About:

Esquared is a regular digest of news, opinion and developments within interactive communications which we find interesting and hope you will too. If you want more information about anything that we mention, or have any comments, please call us on 01992 500990 or e-mail esquared@experience-engine.co.uk.