Annus horribilis for Psion

Describing it as 'the most difficult and disappointing' year in the company's 21-year history, the chairman of Psion, David Potter, revealed unhappy figures for the UK technology company. For the twelve months ending 31 December 2001, the company recorded pre-tax losses of ?149.5m and a fall in revenues of more than 17 per cent. ...more

Austrian 3G auctions suffer Italy's fate

Austria has failed to raise expected returns from its 3G mobile comms auctions, with the bidding closing after only two days after 16 rounds. The problem seems to stem from the fact that having the same number of bidders as there are licences available inevitably dampens competition. The first set of licences up for grabs was for 6 pairs of 5Mhz frequency packages. ...more

Nude Dutch phone frenzy

Nudity, it seems, is on the rise for people who spend their time sat in front of a computer screen, as a Dutch call centre is advertising for staff that want to work naked. Holland, with its multi-lingual workforce and attractive rates of taxation, is a popular location for international call centres, resulting in a shortage of applicants for new posts, but the naked opportunity has succeeded in attracting a rush of highly-qualified applicants, according to Reuters. There could be quite a few from Yorkshire, if results of a survey by NOP for AOL are to be believed. ...more

Norway's Liberal Party backs file sharing

Norway's Liberal Party has become the first mainstream European political party to back p2p file sharing. The party, which holds 10 seats in Norway's 169-seat parliament, adopted the policy at its annual congress, saying copyright laws are not adapted for a modern society and should permit file sharing for personal, but not commercial, use. 'Copyright law is outdated,' the resolution says. ...more

Microsoft spotlights HD DVD at tech show

Microsoft has been banging the HD DVD drum at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2006 in Seattle. With the likes of Sony, Samsung, Philips and Apple lined up behind Blu-ray as the next-generation of optical disc technology to replace DVDs, Microsoft - along with NEC and Intel is backing the Toshiba-driven rival format. At the conference, Microsoft trumpeted the various PC manufacturers, independent hardware vendors (IHVs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) that are lining up under the HD DVD banner with their products. ...more