Dutch snippets of the week

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Telfort starts with EDGE network

The mobile telephone network Telfort starts on Monday August 1, 2005 operating its EDGE network. It will be the first mobile company with a fast mobile network covering the Netherlands nationwide. The speed will be 236 Kbps over against UMTS 384Kbps. UMTS in the Netherlands by KPN and Vodafone do not have a nationwide coverage yet. Telfort still has a UMTS license which it inherited from O2, but so far has not done anything with it. KPN is intending to acquire Telfort for 1,1 billion euro.

Whatthehack convention calls for resistance

Hackers should peacefully resist the gross violation and limitation of the freedom of speech, which are put upon people under the pretext of the fight against terrorisme. That was the message during convention Whatthehack in Liempde by Emmanuel Goldstein and Ron Gongrijp. The convention is held in the south of the Netherlands in a tent camp with a fixed and mobile net with people, mainly men and a growing number of women, coming from all over the world. The convention is held every four years. During the convention around 150 presentations will be given. You can have a look at a video with commentary in Dutch Modem / ADSL

Biketag.nl against bicycle theft

A sticker with a code and a sms system are the basis of a typical Dutch service Biketag.nl. In a country with millions of bicycles, many bicycles get lost and stolen. Now bicycle owners can buy a sticker with a unique identification number for five euro. The sticker is put on the bicycle. The identification number is linked to an e-mail address of the owner of the bicycle. When a bicycle has been retrieved, the owner gets an e-mail that his/het bicycle has been found. The company Biketag.nl estimates that more than one million bicycles get lost or misplaced every year. The system is not waterproof as the tag can be removed from the bicycle, yet the method majors the existing practice of engraving the ZIP code in the frame of the bicycle.

Two press wires fight

The incumbent press wire ANP is fighting the start up Novum. Last year ANP won a court case from Novum as ANP claimed that employees of Novum got into the ANP database illegally. Novum was ordered to pay an advance sum of 50.000 euro. In the extensive court case that followed the judge declined to adjudicate the financial and publicity claims.