Computer Aid backs Christmas e-cards

The UK charity Computer Aid International is seeking to boost its work through the sending of seasonal e-cards. The charity helps refurbish IT kit for the developing world and its 'Make IT Happen' campaign is bidding to raise more revenues. It costs ?1 to send an e-card through Computer Aid and it states this could provide 120 hours of computer access to schools in developing countries. ...more

Research backs plane mobiles ban

The body which oversees all air traffic in the UK has published the results of tests which confirm what has long been suspected, that the use of mobile phones while flying 'can interfere with aircraft equipment'. The Civil Aviation Authority noted that phone use can cause 'significant errors on instrument displays and background noise on audio outputs'. It also backed up pilots who have reported the following effects from mobile interference: false notification of unsafe conditions, such as incorrect baggage compartment smoke alarm warnings; malfunction of aircraft systems; interrupted communications due to noise in the flight crew headphones; and distraction of crews from their normal duties due to increased work levels and the possibility of having to invoke emergency drills. ...more

Philips boosts Brilliance monitor range

New 23-inch widescreen, 19-inch and 17-inch models have been added to the Philips Brilliance range of monitors. To be precise, the new models are the 23-inch Brilliance 230W5 widescreen monitor, the 19-inch Brilliance 190P5 model, and two 17-inch models - the Brilliance P5 and B5. Details of the 230WS (pictured) include: a 23-inch panel, an ultra-high resolution display of 1,920x1,200 with a contrast ratio of 500:1, a viewing angle of 176 ?, and a brightness of 250nits. ...more

Printing in the palm of your hand

Sony has announced a palm-sized colour photo-printer that prints borderless photos anywhere in less than two minutes. Using Sony's memory Stick media, the DPP-MP1 weighs less than 454g, including batteries and paper tray and can connect to a PC via USB. It will be out in November in the US for $280. ...more

Acer launches lockdown desktops from ?350 ex VAT

Acer, which already claims the top slot in Western Europe for the number of notebook computers sold is now taking aim at the desktop market. It is launching a new range of desktop PCs based around the new "Prescott" Pentium or Celeron range from Intel and is looking to consolidate its notebook market share with a new model based on the new AMD Athlon 64 mobile chip. Available in either tower or desktop versions, the new Veriton PCs are based on an Acer-branded MSI motherboard featuring the Intel 865G graphics chipset, up to 4Gbytes of DDR400 memory with dual channel support and ATA-100 hard disks drives. ...more