Net at the speed of light

Optical technology isn't new - telecommunication has been using light for many years, piped down fibre optic cables. But what if you threw the cable away? Would you still be able to communicate with a light beam? The answer is yes, and a company called Terabeam is using lasers to beam high-speed Internet connections through office windows. On Tuesday, the company announced its plans to build a network of laser transmitters in Denver, the first of six cities to use Terabeam's holographic 1GB/sec network. ...more

Microsoft and France Telecom shake on converged comms

Microsoft and France Telecom, owner of Orange and Wanadoo, have inked a deal over Windows-based mobile services. Amid talk of 'digital convergence' - i.e. ...more

Internet telephony the key to the automated home?

The fledgling Net telephony service Skype has received a boost from one of Europe's biggest electronics companies. Siemens has announced a wireless handset for the service with the aim of becoming a (very) remote control for your heating, lighting and other domestic services. The Skype service is still in its beta form with the commercial launch date still months away. ...more

Apple releases QuickTime security update

Apple has released a security update that addresses a vulnerability in QuickTime where visiting malicious websites may lead to arbitrary code execution. The flaw is caused by a buffer overflow in QuickTime's handling of RTSP URLs. By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted RTSP URL, an attacker can trigger the buffer overflow, which may lead to the execution of code. ...more