Vista sales beat XP’s
by Jan HarrisMicrosoft has sold nearly 40 million copies of Windows Vista in the 100 days since it was released in January, according to the company’s chairman Bill Gates.
In his keynote speech at the Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Los Angeles, Gates said that 20 million copies of Vista were sold in the first [...]
£3m centre founded for Computational and Dynamical Analysis
by Brian TurnerThe University of Manchester is establishing a £3 million research centre –
the Centre for Interdisciplinary Computational And Dynamical Analysis (CICADA) – with the help of a £1.75 million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Researchers at the centre hope to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and techniques in a range of [...]
LG Philips reveals ‘e-paper’
by Brian TurnerLG Philips LCD of South Korea has developed the first colour electronic paper.
The ‘e-paper’ is a flexible 14.1-inch colour display, about the same size as an A4 sheet of paper, which can display up to 4096 colours. It uses a face plate manufactured by E Ink Corp. of the U.S. to produce the colours using [...]
Broadband wireless on track to overtake wired
by Brian TurnerBusiness intelligence provider, Informa Telecoms and Media, has released a new report which shows that wireless technologies are on track to overtake wired as the main method of broadband access for businesses, both in the UK and worldwide.
The report suggests that wired systems such as DSL and cable will remain popular among existing users, [...]
AMD to release Phenom quad-core processors
by Jan HarrisAMD expects to unveil its quad-core desktop processors later this year under the name ‘Phenom’.
Phenom FX and Phenom X4 quad-core chips and a dual core chip based on a similar design called the Phenom X2 will all be available by the end of the year.
Rival Intel has been distributing quad-core chips for servers and [...]
May 15, 2007
Paypal Europe to move to Luxembourg
by Brian TurnerPopular internet payment processor, Paypal, has announced that Paypal Europe (Ltd) will cease functioning, as Paypal moves its operations to another Paypal entity, based in Luxembourg.
From 2 July 2007, PayPal Europe SÃ rl & Cie, SCA (PayPal Luxembourg) will become the service provider for PayPal in the EU.
Paypal Luxembourg will be regulated by the Commission de [...]
May 14, 2007
Dragons Den to begin Series 5
by Brian TurnerPopular business investment program, Dragon’s Den is gearing up for it’s fifth series – and is looking for a new selection of entrepreneurs to pitch their innovations for funding.
In the last series, no less than ten entrepreneurs secured funding for various projects, including Reggae Reggae Sauce and the i-Teddy.
According to the BBC, entrepreneurs wishing to [...]
May 13, 2007
BT Vision to offer CBS Paramount programming
by Jan HarrisBT Vision has secured a deal for CBS Paramount International Television to provide further on-demand programming for its BT Vision digital TV service. The agreement includes episodes of Sex and The City and Twin Peaks.
BT is preparing for a multi-million-pound national advertising campaign to promote its BT Vision IPTV service, which was launched in [...]
University cluster boasts 182 terabytes of storage
by Jan HarrisA new high-performance computer cluster, which will play a leading role in international scientific research, has been announced by Sir Alan Sugar, chairman of Viglen Ltd.
The cluster has been developed by Viglen, which specialises in computers and IT solutions, and the Department of Physics at Queen Mary, University of London.
The system, which has [...]
Minority technology to kill mouse
by Jan HarrisJohn Underkoffler, the founder and chief scientist of Oblong Industries, is developing an operating system based on human-hand gesturing that could soon replace the mouse.
Underkoffler gave a talk called ‘Cinema, Science and Innovation’ at the Museum of Science in Boston, in which he said “the mouse has had a good run but its time [...]
Wi-fi Attacks Threaten Café Hotspots
by Jan HarrisTimes Online has reported attacks on Wi-Fi hotspots in Coffee-shop chains such as Starbucks.
The “evil twin” attacks involve a hacker setting up a rogue WiFi network and monitoring traffic in order to intercept private data.
This sort of attack is difficult to trace and can be set up with little more than a laptop with [...]
VeeSee TV debuts IPTV for the deaf
by Jan HarrisVeeSee TV is launching an IPTV service for deaf people, which provides programming completely in British Sign Language (BSL).
The service can either be watched on a computer or streamed to a TV set. Although the service currently only offers a few hours of programming, this will be quickly expanded.
The service, which was developed by BSL [...]
LTE standard promises 100Mbps connectivity
by Brian TurnerA group of telecom technology manufacturers and network operators are developing a standard that could boost mobile speeds to 100Mbps, making current 3G connectivity at 1.8Mbps seems positively snail-like.
Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Orange and its parent company France Telecom, T-Mobile and Vodafone are to collaborate on promoting the next-generation of high [...]
May 8, 2007
Laptop theft up 6% in UK
by Jan HarrisA new report from silicon.com reveals a sharp rise in laptop theft in the UK.
Data from the 28 UK police forces, who answered a Freedom of Information Act enquiry by silicon.com, shows an average year-on-year increase in the number of laptops stolen of six per cent.
The serious problems created by data loss and [...]
IE8 to work with CSS2
by Jan HarrisMicrosoft gave away a few hints about its forthcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser at the Mix 07 conference in Las Vegas.
IE platform architect Chris Wilson said that the company will continue to prioritise security and ease-of-use in IE 8 and also plans to improve Web development with current standards compatibility.
Microsoft intends to release [...]
May 5, 2007
IBM increases chip speed with vacuum spaces
by Jan HarrisIBM has developed a technique of creating vacuum spaces between copper wires in semiconductors which will provide increased speed, enhanced performance and reduced power consumption.
The ‘Airgap’ technique could increase chip performance by 35% and reduce power consumption by 15%. It will form part of IBM’s manufacturing process for the 32-nanometer generation of microprocessors.
Insulation [...]
Apple commits to greener products
by Jan HarrisIn its first public commitment to reducing its environmental impact Apple has revealed new manufacturing policies which will eliminate arsenic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from current products by 2008.
The company also plans to recycle 30% of its own electronic waste by 2010 according to a letter from Steve Jobs on the [...]
May 4, 2007
HP boosts chip power with nanoscale electronics
by Jan HarrisHP has licensed a technology that could produce semiconductor chips significantly more powerful than those currently available.
HP researchers have created a process called nanoimprint lithography (NIL) which produces laboratory prototype circuits with wire widths of just 15 nanometers – about one-third the size of those used in the most advanced circuits available this year. [...]
May 3, 2007
iGoogle offers enhanced home page features
by Jan HarrisGoogle has broken Apple’s monopoly over the prefix ‘i’ and named its updated Personalised Home product iGoogle.
iGoogle allows users to create a customised portal featuring news, blog postings and ‘gadgets’ – interactive information modules for topics such as the local weather, date and time, news or horoscopes.
Google has updated the product with a [...]
IBM developing video games on mainframes
by Jan HarrisIBM is developing its System z mainframe computer into an online 3-D gaming platform.
The system will allow an organisation to create and run a virtual online environment like “Second Life,” on one unit, either as a gaming environment or as a showcase for their products or services.
The PlayStation 3 uses the Cell Broadband [...]