Nokia up as Ericsson down

Contrasting news from the telecoms industry, with Ericsson posting losses and looking to cut its global workforce by almost 15 per cent while Nokia has reported profits and large increases in sales. Following the announcements of its quarterly results - a 5 per cent fall in sales leading to ?480m pre-tax losses, which compares - the Swedish telecom equipment builder is looking to shed 12,000 jobs worldwide. Most of the jobs will be lost outside of Sweden, but how many UK jobs will affected is not yet known - the company hasn't yet provided a full breakdown on a country-by-country basis. ...more

Open-source software makes the invisible man

A University of Liverpool mathematician claims 30-year-old open-source software has cracked the equation that will allow scientists to make objects - such as humans, tanks or even entire islands - invisible. The mathematical theory builds on earlier research into cloaking technology by Imperial College's Professor John Pendry. He developed artificial materials (or meta-materials) that can make light sweep around an object, theoretically rendering it invisible. ...more

LaCie unveils new palm-sized Porsche-designed hard drives

F A Porsche is the latest renowned designer commissioned by LaCie to sculpt one of its products, the Data Bank. The Data Bank is a small hard drive holding 5, 10 or 20Gb of data in a 'sleek', ingot-shaped magnesium casing. At 111mm x 63mm x 13mm it's slightly larger than a credit card and slimmer than a mobile phone. ...more

This is maptastic!

If you are like me and lack any sense of direction, you probably refer to your trusty A to Z more times than you'd like to mention. There are quite a few map databases on-line, but one of the most popular is Mapquest. The company behind Mapquest has recently announced a UK regionalised version of the site. ...more

Britain storms ahead with digi-telly

Britain is leading the way when it comes to digital television. According to a report by Ofcom, the UK has the highest digital penetration of any country in the world. As of 31 December 2005 digital television was viewed by just under 70 per cent of all UK television households, up from 65. ...more