Broadband still too expensive

Price cuts over better content - that's the key to broadband ubiquity. With an overwhelming 94 per cent, voters on our recent poll plumped for price cuts as the factor that would make them sign up for ADSL en masse. The poll asked whether better content or cheaper prices were the key contributing elements to signing up to broadband. ...more

The computers don't work

Another publicly-funded computer system bites the dust, as a ?77m Home Office system is scraped. The system, for the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND), was intended to process applications for asylum - there is an existing backlog of 66,000 applications - but it hasn't proved up to the job since its installation in 1998. Instead, hundreds of extra workers have been taken on to do the paper work manually. ...more

Google, Apple, Napster target of online video patent suit

According to the New York Times, Google, Apple and Napster have been named in a patent suit filed by the now defunct Internet video service Intertainer in a federal district court in Texas. The company, which holds nine patents, alleges that the tech giants have infringed on its intellectual property covering the management and distribution of digital media. Intertainer is no stranger to the courtroom. ...more

Hotmail Hack a damp squib

A lot of hard work to read someone's spam. Reports that hackers can break into Hotmail accounts with ease have been put down as "misleading", according to Security News Portal. Earlier this week hacking site Root-Core posted a program that enabled Hotmail users to scan for messages held by other accounts. ...more

Real-music ring tones promised by Nokia

The new wave of GPRS phones will bring ring tones that use actual music, says Nokia. The handset manufacturer has struck a deal with Web site and ring-tone provider Iobox.com and music label Telstar to provide full-length recordings for around ?1 a throw. ...more