Christmas card virus top of the tree for December

Last month's Christmas card virus proved the most prevalent of the month according to UK antivirus experts Sophos. The electronic card only began infecting machines in the middle of the month, yet numbers of the Zafi-D virus hidden within it accounted for more than a third of reports. Part of the reason behind the virus's high infection levels is the seasonal nature of the card. ...more

Microsoft faces Netscape's communication

Former Netscape CEO James L Barksdale was given the opportunity to blast Microsoft from the witness box today, as the final phase of the antitrust case entered its second day. The New York Times reports Mr Barksdale submitted a testimony to the effect that the current proposed measures to punish Microsoft and reach a settlement would not have prevented Microsoft using anticompetitive behaviour to crush Netscape in the 1990s and therefore would not stop Microsoft from doing it again. Indeed, the crux of the current situation is whether Microsoft is currently pursuing anti-competitive behaviour in other areas, such as mobile devices and instant messaging, and how far the settlement should go to prevent Microsoft from repeating its actions. ...more

Content owners pursue DRM despite Sony climbdown

Despite mounting consumer gripes about DRM, music fans and film buffs can expect to see more restrictive digital rights technologies attached to the songs and movies they buy, technology industry observers said at a conference here dedicated to the future of digital media. The controversy around DRM hit a crescendo late last year after it emerged major music label Sony BMG copy-protected millions of CDs of its top artists with a technology that left consumers vulnerable to hackers if they played the disc on their computers. Sony admitted it sold 2. ...more

Intel doubles profits but generates warning signs for the future

It's steady as she goes for Intel, as the chip giant reveals its latest quarterly financial results - a three month period in which it launched the Grantsdale and Alderwood chipsets, the Celeron D, and introduced 90 nanometre processors into the laptop market. Flat sequential figures - comparing results with the previous three months - disguised some large year-on-year increases. According to its second quarter figures, sales of $8bn represent an 18 per cent year-on-year increase but sequentially flat on the previous quarter. ...more

DoCoMo faces another 3G recall

After managing 3G's debut in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has announced it is to recall all of the handsets used in the trial rollout "to improve their function". The recall of the N2001 NEC handsets, follows DoCoMo's recalls of 420,000 Sony S0503i phones, after it ignored a warning from Sony about faulty software, and another involving Java-enabled handsets from Matsushita's Panasonic brand. Users of the 3G handsets had been warned that a recall was possible, in order to upgrade the handsets, and Japanese newspapers have indicated that replacements would become available in July. ...more