3 February 2012
Last updated at 14:20 ET

Toby Parkins of UK NetWeb was one of those who tried out BT’s new fibre service in St Agnes, Cornwall

Fibre optic broadband connections of up to 300 Megabits per second will be available on demand in 2013, BT says.

That is three times the maximum 100 Mbps speed the company currently offers using the technology and it described the development as a “game changer”.

According to Ofcom the current UK broadband average is 7.6 Mbps.

BT said it hoped to create a “mass market” for high speed broadband among small and medium sized businesses following trials in Cornwall.

The company made the announcement following successful trials of so-called fibre to the premise (FTTP) in St Agnes.

“By December 2014, two-thirds of the country will have access to ultra-fast fibre if they want it” said Mike Galvin of Openreach, part of the BT group.

The firm plans to roll out the system starting next year.

Costly connections

Optical fibre links to street cabinets are widespread, but the connection from cabinet to premises is in most cases copper cable, limiting the speed of the connection.

FTTP will require a fibre-optic connection to the premise from the street cabinet to be installed.

But that may not mean digging up the road.

“It could be overhead, might be on a pole, might be in an existing ductwork,” Openreach’s Mike Galvin told the BBC.

But connection will come at a price. BT said the installation fees will most likely be in the high hundreds of pounds, possibly more.

What individual customers will have to pay will depend on whether companies who provide broadband connections, such as ISPs, pass them on to consumers.

Spending on speed

Installing a high-speed connection at a price is not in itself innovative, but BT believes the new product is a significant development.

“If you had the money you could have had your own private plane as well, and that’s the difference – you are making something that was previously a high-end product and you’re bringing availability to the mass market,” Mr Galvin said.

He added that the FTTP system was “future proof” allowing BT to upgrade as still faster technologies were developed.

“There are technologies coming up which will give speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps),” he said.

BT said the roll out was enabled by changes to the way they use their network.

“We’ve re-engineered and re-looked at how we do fibre in our local network,” Mr Galvin said.

“We think this is an absolute game changer. Overnight you’ve gone form a network that’s got the potential to do 80 Mbps across two thirds of the country to a network that on demand can do 300 Mbps.”

At present the company only offers FTTP for the areas around 14 exchanges.

Changing commitments

Some rivals have accused BT of cutting back on previous commitments – namely dropping a target for the percentage of properties with fibre to the door.

Virgin recently announced they were doubling broadband speeds

However, BT said it still planned to spend the same £2.5bn on fibre, and that in cases where the fibre only went up the cabinet, premises would soon be able to get 80 Mbps speed.

A spokesman told the BBC, “Before this development FTTP was going to be available in a relatively small subset of our fibre footprint. This development means it can be available in the whole of our fibre footprint.”

The government wants 90% of UK businesses to be connected to super-fast broadband by 2015.

The announcement of BT’s new product follows news of high-speed offerings from rivals.

A Virgin Media spokesman said: “We’re about to boost the speeds for millions of people yet again with our doubling upgrade and the introduction of 120 Mbps.

“Having successfully proven 1.5 Gbps on our network last summer, Britain’s broadband is moving in the right direction.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-16870464

The stockmarket continues to grind higher. And you can give the
U.S.economy the tip of the cap for the recent gains. Recent data
points imply that the incipient economic strength we saw last fall
has continued into 2012. If this trend remains in place, then the
economically-sensitive stocks in my $100,000 real-money portfolio
will surely benefit.

Ford (NYSE:

F

)

is a great example. Though I recently
took stock of a subpar fourth quarter

, I also think many investors underestimate the rising demand for
cars and trucks. Ford saw its sales rise 7% in January (compared
with a year ago), in line with the industry’s growth rate. And if
the full year’s sales grow at this pace, then Ford is
well-positioned to meet or exceed 2012 estimates — assuming Europe
doesn’t fall off a cliff. The fact that Europe is inching closer to
a resolution of its various crises could also boost results as
European consumers feel comfortable enough to purchase new cars and
trucks again.

Perhaps one of the best data points around to gauge theeconomy ‘s
health is thespot price of aluminum, which appears to have bottomed
out at around $0.91 a pound in early January, but recently moved
back up above $1.
Alcoa (NYSE:

AA

)

and other aluminum stocks have responded in kind, though they
remain far below levels seen last spring. The Dow Jones U.S.
AluminumIndex has moved above its 100-daymoving average , abullish
sign.

To push aluminum prices higher, the industry’s key players are
showing great discipline. Alcoa announced a series of production
cuts in January, and just this week (Jan. 30), Russia-based United
Co. Rusal announced plans to trim its output by roughly 5% in the
next 18 months. These cuts are in tandem with moves by China to
further curtail its aluminum output this year. This could help push
aluminum prices back to $1.10 or even $1.15 a pound, which explains
why I think Alcoa’s stock
will likely post solid gains this year

.

The stock is already up 20% this year, but at a recent $10.40, it’s
well below the52-week high of $18. Frankly, investors should brace
for a slow climb, so a return to the $18 mark might still be a year
or two away.

[block:block=16]Yet investors also need to brace themselves for a
bumpy ride when it comes to some stocks. For example, LED lighting
(light-emitting diodes) prices continue to drop, which sets the
stage for a possibleearnings shortfall for
Cree (Nasdaq:
CREE

)

. The fact this stock is already up 23% in 2011 makes me anxious.
All of these gains could be disgorged if Cree indeed delivers a
subpar quarter. Still, I love this company’s long-term positioning
and don’t intend to trade in and out of this stock based on
short-term gyrations.

As for my other portfolio holdings, here are some other key events
to watch in the coming month:

•
Hasbro (NYSE:

HAS

)

will deliver a more detailedquarterly report this coming Monday,
Feb. 6. A week after that, I will be meeting with the company at
the annual New York Toy Fair, which the company uses as a platform
to discuss its goals for the coming year.

• On Friday, Feb. 10, battery maker
Exide Technologies (Nasdaq:
XIDE

)

will release quarterly results. This will be a nail-biter. If Exide
delivers yet another bad quarter, thenshares could quickly fall
back to the52-week low of $2.34 (from a recent $3.60). Yet if
results are at least decent, then the stage could be set for a
sharp rebound in the stock in the coming quarters.

•  The following Tuesday, Feb. 14, we’ll hear from
Zipcar (NYSE:

ZIP

)

, which appears to have posted a solid quarter. It’s not a
seasonally-important period — Zipcar does the bulk of its business
in the spring, summer and fall — but investors want to see that
all of the operating metrics are still moving in the right
direction.

Action to Take –

More than half of my $100,000 allotted to this portfolio is now in
play. As I get closer to being “fully-invested,” it may be time to
cull certain names from the portfolio to raise fresh cash. (So make
sure you
don’t miss a single update

.) It’s crucial to always have cash in reserve, as great
opportunities arise unexpectedly, and it’s no fun to lack the funds
tocapitalize on them.

– David Sterman

P.S. — We’re making David Sterman’s $100,000 Portfolio
available at no cost, but only for a limited time. As a
StreetAuthority.com reader, you’re getting the first look at my
best picks. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to
send me your feedback.

David Sterman does not personally hold positions in any
securities mentioned in this article. StreetAuthority LLC owns
shares of AA, F, CREE, HAS, ZIP, XIDE in one or more if its “real
money” portfolios.

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3 February 2012
Last updated at 16:30 ET

Appleton was a professional stunt plane pilot as well as a former motocross racer

Steve Appleton, the chief executive and chairman of Micron, has died in a plane crash near the airport at Boise, Idaho.

Appleton, 51, a professional stunt plane pilot, was flying a small, experimental fixed-wing plane.

Micron, a memory-chip maker founded in 1978, halted its stock trading.

“Steve’s passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large,” the company’s board said in a statement.

Emergency services in south-western Idaho received reports of a small plane on fire before it landed at around 09:00 local time.

In 2004, Appleton sustained serious injuries after his stunt plane crashed in the desert east of Boise.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is in the middle of a safety study on amateur-built planes like the one Appleton was flying. His plane was a Lancair.

In 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a safety advisory on the Lancair because the plane often stalled at slow speeds near the ground.

More than half of the 222 accidents studied by the NTSB involved planes that were bought used rather than having been built by the current owner.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-us-canada-16882772

My loss is your gain.  Less than a month ago,
I told readers

about the potentially strong upturn in place for carbon fiber maker
Zoltek (Nasdaq:
ZOLT

)

.

Thanks to a just-released
quarterly report

,
shares

are now up a heady 67% from where I recommended them. And that’s in
just one month! I didn’t add the stock to my

$100,000 Real-Money Portfolio

, awaiting a better entry point that never arrived. Hopefully, you
were able to get in the action and have been able to secure a tidy
gain.

Here’s the odd part. This stock still has a lot more upside. After
myriad false starts, this company is finally getting its act
together.

As I noted last month, Zoltek built a great deal of manufacturing
capacity a few years ago, only to find that demand wasn’t as robust
as expected. As a result, those factories were heavily
under-utilized, and a real drag on gross and operating
profits. 

This dynamic appears to have changed. For the second quarter in a
row, Zoltek saw a solid spike in sales. Last fall, the company
announced that fiscal fourth quarter (September 2011) sales rose
38% to $43 million. On Friday morning, Feb. 3, the company followed
up with a 43% year-over-year spike in sales to $47 million.

Analysts had been expecting about a nickel a share in profits.
Zoltek instead earned $0.28 a share.  This works out roughly
to a $1 a share in
earnings

on a full-year basis. All of this led to massive one-day rally,
with the stock up 38% as of this writing.

It’s worth noting Zoltek’s
profit

potential is still constrained. The company’s factories are still
under-utilized, and if quarterly sales move up to the $55 million
to $60 million range, then margins would expand from better factory
utilization, meaning Zoltek’s profits could grow even higher. The
company speaks of hitting $500 million in annual sales by the
middle of this decade. That’s a foolhardy prediction. Assume
instead that sales max out at $300 million. At that level, Zoltek
could still likely earn around $2 a share.

How realistic is this scenario? Well, when you consider rivals
Hexcel (NYSE:

HXL

)

and SGL-Carbon (which recently changed its name to SGL Group) are
already operating at capacity, buyers of carbon fiber are turning
to Zoltek to meet their needs.

There’s another reason to expect Zoltek’s sales to spike higher.
Just this week (Jan. 30), U.S. regulators paved the way for further
development of offshore wind farms along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic
seaboard. All of those carbon turbines use carbon fiber. In fact,
Zoltek’s biggest customer is Spain-based Vestas, which may play a
key role in that offshore wind power program.

Risks to Consider:
Make no mistake. This stock has scored quick gains, and
investors need to know that Zoltek periodically stumbles backwards.
Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this stock hit by
profit-taking, perhaps back down to the $10 range. Then again,
maybe not. The company will hold a conference
call

on Monday (Feb. 6), and if management can make a convincing case
that quarterly results will be even better in coming periods, then
shares are unlikely to slip back.

Action to Take  –

As investors start to fixate on Zoltek’s rising sales and firming
margins, this stock could really hit its stride. I’m talking about
$15 or even $20 (up from a recent $13). That’s why if you own
shares now, you should resist the urge to book
profits.  

[
Note:

If you haven't heard about this unique opportunity, then I want to
tell you about it now. StreetAuthority has staked me with $100,000
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– David Sterman

David Sterman does not personally hold positions in any
securities mentioned in this article. StreetAuthority LLC does not
hold positions in any securities mentioned in this article.

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3 February 2012
Last updated at 09:40 ET

Google’s been letting users of services like maps know that its privacy policies will change on 1 March

Google has been asked to suspend changes to its privacy policy by a group of EU data protection regulators.

Google plans to unify 60 different privacy policies across its products from 1 March.

In a letter to the search giant, the EU group called for a “pause” so it could complete its analysis of the change.

The call came from The Article 29 Working Party – an advisory body which includes representatives from all EU data protection authorities.

In the letter sent to Google chief executive Larry Page on Thursday the group said: “Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states.”

The groups said it wished to “check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citizens in a co-ordinated way”.

“In light of the above, we call for a pause in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google’s commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens, until we have completed our analysis,” the letter said.

Google’s plans to change its privacy policies have raised concerns among some privacy campaigners, but the company says it is improving user experience and making its policies simpler and easier to understand.

In a statement Google said: “We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks leading up to our announcement.

“None of them expressed substantial concerns at the time, but of course we’re happy to speak with any DPA [data protection authority] that has questions.”

The Article 29 Working Party says it is an “independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy”.

According to the Reuters agency, the European commissioner in charge of data protection, Viviane Reding, welcomed the move.

The EU Commission recently set out plans for new pan-European data protection rules.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-16870465

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3 February 2012
Last updated at 06:48 ET

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Kim Dotcom: “I want to fight these allegations on a level playing field”

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s bail application appeal has been rejected in New Zealand.

The High Court in Auckland said it agreed with an earlier ruling that Mr Dotcom – a German national – might try to flee the country.

The file-sharing site creator is accused of profiting from the copying and distribution of pirated content.

Mr Dotcom’s lawyers said that he denied the charge and would fight an extradition application by the US.

Prosecutors had said Mr Dotcom – also known as Kim Schmitz – posed an extreme flight risk, noting that he had passports and bank accounts in three names and a history of fleeing criminal charges. They said measures, such as electronic monitoring, were likely to prove ineffective.

‘Go to hell’

Lawyers representing the US authorities also said that a man with a history of making fake travel documents had unsuccessfully asked to visit Mr Dotcom following his arrest.

Mr Dotcom’s said he had no intention of running away. He said he wanted to be with his pregnant wife and fight to get his assets unfrozen. He also denied all knowledge of the rejected visitor.

“If people were to approach me and to offer such a service, I would tell them to go to hell,” Mr Dotcom said.

He added that he had also been contacted by a man claiming to be a prosecutor, who had said he could organise a favourable bail hearing in return for a payment.

He also complained that he had been sent letters from female prison inmates asking to become his pen pals.

Mr Dotcom’s next court appearance is scheduled for 22 February, when his extradition hearing is planned.

Data deletion

Megaupload has been offline since 19 January, when the US government forced its shutdown and executed search warrants on two companies that provided it with file hosting services – Cogent Communications and Carpathia Hosting.

Megaupload lawyer Ira Rothken tweeted earlier this week that the hosting firms had agreed to preserve consumers’ data until at least mid-February.

The US-based digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation has since written a letter hinting it might begin its own legal action if the service providers consequently tried to wipe the data, now that they were no longer being paid by Megaupload to store it.

“Many innocent third parties… used Megaupload for wholly legal purposes and have since lost access to their data,” wrote the organisation’s legal director, Cindy Cohn.

“Many of these materials are property of the individuals involved, and they are legally entitled not only to access but to preservation and privacy.

“We are hopeful that our client and other third parties can obtain access to their material without resorting to legal action, but if that is not the case, we intend to take the necessary steps to ensure the return of their materials.”

Carpathia has already pledged not to wipe the data without warning.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/technology-16869788