EC charges towards powerline Internet access

To help develop the next generation of powerline technology - using national electricity grids to carry broadband access - the European Commission is spending €9.6 million. The Open PLC European Research Alliance (Opera) will use the funding to rollout and to test how well the low-cost internet access works for high data rate applications such as telephony and video-on-demand. ...more

NEC-Mitsubishi launches new Diamond displays

Aimed at the professional market, NEC-Mitsubishi has introduced new 19in and 22in CRT monitors. Featuring a SuperBright Diamondtron tube, the models - Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 93SB and Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 230SB (pictured) - support brightness levels up to 250cd/m?. Furthermore, brightness is adjusted automatically according to picture content which, NEC-Mitsubishi believes, make them ideal for Web design and DVD viewing. ...more

FBI seize 419 scam emailers

In a joint initiative by Spanish authorities and the FBI, some 310 people have been arrested in connection with a vast 'Nigerian email' lottery scam which netted some ?207m in ill-gotten gains, according to reports. The scam is thought to have duped more than 20,000 people into handing over money to the rogues, and victims have been hit from Australia to the US, as well as a number of European countries, including the UK. Raids were made to hundreds of properties in Malaga, Spain, and masses of equipment was seized including 2,000 mobile phones, 327 computers, 165 fax machines and about ?150,000 in cash. ...more

Sun launches two new servers

Sun Microsystems has announced the launch of two new servers. The new machines are based around the UltraSparc T1 processors formerly codenamed 'Niagara' that the company announced last month. The new servers, known as T1000 and T2000 are aimed at filling the racks of ISPs and are claimed to offer both better performance as well as lower power consumption. ...more

Walking CDs drives music fans digital

UK music fans' inability to hang on to their CD collections is driving the adoption of digital music services, according to an ICM survey. The survey found that we have lost two billion vinyl records and CDs through theft or by lending them out, that's 37 out of the average 126-strong collection. As a result, the survey claims, one-in-five are now using the Internet to get our music while 42 per cent no longer venture into high street stores where they cannot find what they are looking for. ...more