French telecom provider Orange launched the Cinema Series, a subscription-based, multi-platform TV service, yesterday. The cable service brings Internet-style viewing to French TV.

“Orange is offering cinema addicts a new way of watching films and TV series. Apart from traditional broadcasting, all programs are available on demand and can be watched on any screen at any time depending on the circumstances.”

There are five channels: Orange cinemax, for HD blockbusters; cinehappy, a family channel; cinechoc, for action films; cinenovo, for independent films; and cinégéant, for classic films.

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French president Nicolas Sarkozy was a victim of online bank fraud. “Small amounts” of money were stolen from his bank account in a phishing scam. The attack, which happened last month, was revealed in Le journal du Dimanche.

“[This] proves the system of Internet checking is not infallible,” French secretary of state for consumer affairs Luc Chatel said. “These cases are sufficiently rare that we haven’t had to really organize ourselves, but [are] sufficiently serious for us to reflect on how to improve the system.”

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U.S. broadband is thirty times slower than Japan’s.  If American speeds keep growing as slowly as they are now, it will take the U.S. 100 years to reach Japan’s current level, according to the Communications Workers of America’s second annual Speed Matters survey.

“The United States has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet. Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries.”

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Why not get off on the right foot this fall? Gone are the vacation days of sleeping in and basking in the sun. Now it’s back to school and work as the autumn days grow shorter…

Luckily, for those of us who want our summer energy to last a while, Philips in France has come out with a new alarm clock that’s actually therapeutic. No longer do you have to wake up to a radio drone of bad news or to awful, piercing beeps. The Philips Wake-up Light actually energizes you as it gently rouses you from your sleep!

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This Special Report on Europe contains the European Innovation Scoreboard results (France is keeping pace) and a progress report on the future European Digital Library (EDL).

- How many Europeans have triple play (broadband internet access, VoIP telephone and IPTV)?
- What are the desires and practices of today’s internet users?
- You want to go study and/or work in Europe but don’t know where to start?
- Will Germany get fiber optics?

This Special Europe Report provides answers.

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According to a study published in late August by Forrester Research, only 8% of Europeans had triple play service (bundling high-speed Internet, VoIP and IPTV services) as of June 30, 2006. That’s not much, but still up from 5% in 2005.

This European Consumer Technology Adoption Study (ECTAS) conducted by Forrester Research surveyed 25,447 consumers across seven European countries (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Sweden). A similar study had already been conducted mid-year 2005.

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With its i2010 project, the European Commission hopes to establish an open and competitive, single information and communication market in Europe. It is therefore trying to battle against any kind of competition-hampering national or European monopolistic situation liable to stymie universal access to new technologies and paralyze the market. Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s telecommunications leader, recently experienced being the object of this scrutiny.

Already in financial difficulty and having just recently revised downward its 2006 and 2007 targets, the company was then hit by new tribulations that shake its leading position: On Monday August 21st, the European Commission endorsed a proposal submitted by the German telecom regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) that requires Deutsche Telekom to immediately open up its ultra-high-speed network to competitors.

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The European Commission published the results of the fifth European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) on January 12. Brussels believes that, if the current trend continues, the gap between the 25 member states of the European Union and the United States will not narrow. Northern countries—Finland, Sweden, Denmark—scored the best, but Germany and Switzerland also did well.

Five key aspects of innovation were examined: innovation drivers, knowledge creation, innovation and entrepreneurship, application, and intellectual property. According to the Commission, the EU invests nearly one third less in research than does the United States, a disparity that is increasing rather than decreasing.

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The book battle rages on: While Google Book Search has been tied up in legal battles, a European Digital Library (EDL) project steering committee convened on Wednesday, January 11. Chaired by the French Minister of Culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, the committee presented an EDL deployment strategy for France. The results of this meeting are to be presented to French president Jacques Chirac.

The EDL is set to be launched in France before the end of the first quarter of 2006, but France is counting on several European countries to participate in creating a truly European library collection.

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How can British views on VoIP be assessed when most people in England don’t know what it is? What makes IPTV so promising even though some European countries are lagging behind, and which countries will take the lead? How can you confidently find the nearest free Wi-Fi access point? With the launch of Google Maps and Google Earth in Europe, should their competitors be worried? This special report provides answers.

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