Sky broadcasts details of its interactive TV service

Sky has revealed further details of its interactive TV service, with new ways for websites to get onboard. A beta programme has been launched for website owners to help them get the advice they need as well as find out about suitable products that will help them get a spot on Sky's new service. The company also announced a host of partners that will supply everything from hosting to applications for building and porting sites to the WTVML markup language. ...more

Sainsburys to sell Skype vouchers

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has become the first European grocery chain to offer Skype eVouchers through a network of 500 stores throughout the UK. The Skype eVouchers can be bought and used the same way that pre-pay 'top-up' vouchers work with mobile phones. Sainsburys' customers can buy the vouchers at the checkout desk as with a mobile top-up card. ...more

Olympic Web coverage under debate

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) is meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss to future of online Olympic coverage, after this year's near blanket ban led to low online viewing figures for the Sydney games. Television rights are worth some ?900m to the IOC and are licensed country by country. Clearly there are online revenues to be had, but the online coverage of the otherwise successful Sydney Olympics was limited to NBCOlympics. ...more

McAfee joins TECF anti-phishing body

With the growing threat of electronic identity theft and phishing attacks, McAfee has elected to join the Trusted Electronic Communications Forum (TECF). Founded six months ago by banks and online businesses as well as tech giants, the Forum seeks to further efforts to counter criminal activities related to phishing, spoofing, and other online deception tactics. However, McAfee is one of the few specialist IT security vendors to join, although CipherTrust was one of the founders. ...more

Net phone startup Skype gathers more funding

Skype has banked nearly $19mn of venture capital funding in round two. The peer-to-peer IP telephony startup gathered in $18.8mn in second round funding led by venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurveston and Index Ventures. ...more