Five on the critical list in Microsoft's security update

As Microsoft warned in its advance notification, this month's bundle of security bulletins contains seven patches, five of which are critical. Two of the critical flaws relate to Windows and involve the possibility of remote code execution. The first, MS06-035, addresses two problems: a Mailslot Heap Overflow vulnerability and a SMB Information Disclosure vulnerability. ...more

ADSL market leaders see off competition

Despite ever-increasing competition, the UK broadband market continues to be dominated by a handful of service providers, with no indication that this will change any time soon. A survey by research firm Point Topic revealed that just five companies provide 80 per cent of all ADSL connections. The newly merged NTL and Telewest is now the market leader, with 2,822,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2006, followed by BT/Yahoo! (2,481,000), AOL (1,300,000), Tiscali (1,085,0000) and Orange, formerly Wanadoo (986,000). ...more

The weekly news roundup - Thursday 5 April 2007

Keep abreast of the news with our weekly roundup of the week's main tech stories. The story that has generated most headlines has been EMI's decision to abandon digital rights management (DRM). As well removing copy protection from its entire music catalogue, it will be selling higher-quality editions of every song to which it owns the rights. ...more

Amazon technology investment pays off

Amazon has reported a 32 per cent rise in sales during the first quarter of 2007, well above its own estimates. The online retailer's profits also rose steeply to $144 million, an increase of 50 per cent on the same period last year. It warned that it expects growth to slow in the current quarter but still expects annual profits to increase by at least 19 per cent. ...more

Apple releases OS X 10.3.5, plus security, Server updates

Apple has released the latest update to Mac OS X 10.3, delivering enhanced functionality and improved reliability. The update includes several enhancements to Bluetooth support, plus networking and Internet improvements. ...more