Google Earth pairs sound with vision

Google Earth will soon be able to provide sounds to accompany its satellite images when a California firm releases its archive of 3,500 hours of recordings later this month. Bernie Krause has spent the last 40 years collecting recordings from all over the globe and his company, Wild Sanctuary, will now link this to Google Earth. He has created software that can embed those sounds, together with information about when they were recorded, into Google's application. ...more

JBuilder X makes Web Services visible

The Java development system from Borland has reached its tenth generation. It's X for version 10 and X, apparently, to emphasise its cross-platform capabilities.. ...more

Price Check: Graphics Cards

With both of nVidia's and ATi's latest and greatest graphics cards finding their way to the UK, it means the moneyed can up the graphics ante, while those of shallower pockets should see prices fall on those cards that have been usurped. And if there's nothing more annoying than finding what was billed as the best money can buy being superseded just months later - as we've seen with nVidia's new NV35 chipset that has just arrived in the form of the GeForce FX 5900 - at least the erstwhile leader the nVidia FX 5800 card should quickly become that much more affordable. It'll take ?388 to get the former to turn up at your door, in a card from Creative and available from Dabs. ...more

Income the chief bar to Internet access

Income is the main barrier to Internet access, according to a new report by the Greater London Authority. The London Household Survey found that 45 per cent of homes in London have Internet access, but those homes are much more likely to be occupied by people in the higher income brackets. For example, in households with an income over ?52,000, 80 per cent have access. ...more

France Telecom poised for C&W buy

France Telecom is reportedly poised to buy Cable & Wireless, owner of the Bulldog ISP, for 5.9bn Euros (?4bn). If the deal goes ahead, it will be the second time that Bulldog has changed hands recently, having been bought by C&W in June 2004. ...more