A new website called Betra Island (Better Iceland) was formally opened in a tent outside the Icelandic parliament building on Wednesday. Read the full story

Risk assessment according to ISO/IEC 27001 is causing headaches for IT experts in thousands of companies. Luckily Stiki Information Security has now released a new state-of –the art risk management tool for risk assessment according to ISO/IEC 27001. Read the full story

Toyota Iceland, exclusive importer of Toyota and Lexus cars, trucks and SUVs to Iceland, has decided to take on SecurStore back-up and recovery managed services in order to protect all their most important business data. Toyota Iceland is the single biggest importer of vehicles in the country, with a market share in the region of 25% over recent years. Read the full story

Once again, Denmark has ranked first in the world when it comes to using Information Technology (IT), by the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report for 2008-2009. The report rates nations on their readiness and competence concerning IT. Read the full story

Now that Apple has changed its tune and allowed the songs sold through its popular iTunes Shop to be compatible with any MP3 player, a Norwegian consumer watchdog group has dropped its official complaint lodged with the Market Council. In the past, songs purchased and downloaded via iTunes could only be played on one of Apple’s iPods. Read the full story

The popular social networking website, Facebook, has revealed that Denmark is the nation with the most users on its site. More than a third of all Danish Internet users have a profile on Facebook, giving it top ranking among the world’s countries. Read the full story

Traffic in the capital of Sweden has been reduced by 18 per cent following the roll out of the Stockholm Congestion Charging System. The system was piloted last year and began full scale implementation last August, according to reports in Red Orbit.

As a result of the new system, the proportion of tax-exempt, eco-friendly vehicles in the city increased by nine per cent. In most cases, travel times on inner city streets have been reduced and access to the city has improved. The latest figures on traffic in Stockholm were reported in a study by Stockholm City Traffic authorities.

The traffic solution was designed by IBM who served as the prime contractor for the project, as well as its development and operation. IBM has been collaborating with the Swedish Road Administration and the city of Stockholm in order to develop the program. In order to deliver an effective technical solution to inner city traffic congestion, IBM brought in consultants, as well as research and technology experts.

During the seven month pilot which was launched in 2006, traffic in Stockholm was reduced by 22 per cent. Since the system was adopted by the Swedish National Parliament and implemented over a 24 square kilometre region of the inner city, traffic has remained below its previous levels.

“Traffic has remained substantially lower since the pilot with IBM, which has brought significant benefits to Stockholm residents. The scheme is meeting the objectives set by the city of reducing traffic volumes, improving accessibility for buses and cars, and improving the environment,” said Birger Hook, Director of the Swedish Road Administration’s traffic registry.

The World Economic Forum has published its annual IT rankings and Scandinavia has come out in top place. Of all Scandinavian countries, Denmark has surfaced in first place in terms of adopting and applying information technology and telecommunications.

According to reports in the Information Age, the annual survey looks at technology use in 127 countries around the world.

Denmark picked up top prize for the second year in a row although receiving fierce competition from Sweden, which came in second place. Switzerland placed third. Perhaps most surprisingly, Americans came in fourth and Britons dropped in the rankings this year, from ninth place to 12th.

Despite the fact that IT is a growing industry in India, overall the country lost ground in this year’s rankings, slipping four places. China and the Republic of Korea were two countries which improved their rankings over the year.

Some of the lowest ranked countries in the world were Chad, in 127th place and Burundi and Zimbabwe.

The Global Information Technology Report considers the ability and desire of a government, business and individuals in a country to use and adopt new advances in information technology.

“Establishing a pervasive and prosperous Internet culture is as much about creating the right business environment as it is about adopting the right technology,” the report found.

Rail passengers in the UK will soon experience quicker times for ticketing and information enquiries on several First Group rail services with the installation of a new telesales operations system.

The STAR telesales system, which is already used by seven rail services across the UK, will provide the logistical operations for First Great Western, First Scotrail, First Trans-Pennine Express and Hull Trains.

The improved system, which is operated by Fujitsu Services, expects to see customer waiting times fall by up to 30 seconds at First rail call centres in Plymouth, Fort William and India. Better scripting to guide telesales staff will make it quicker and easier for rail customers to buy a ticket or request information.

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The mobile phone company 3 is introducing the Skypephone in Denmark, Sweden and Austria, reports VoIP news.

The Skypephone is an internet mobile phone that allows users to make Skype-to-Skype calls free of charge to anyone on the globe, with traditional phone calls also possible for a fee.

3 has already launched the Skypephone in Australia, the UK, Ireland, Italy and Hong Kong. UK users of the 3 Skypephone make the most calls within the UK, also calling a high number of Skype users in the USA, Poland and Germany.

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