Comment: File sharing is peerless

The only time I was caught for speeding, it never occurred to me to plead guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Reaching over 70mph was quite an achievement in itself at a time when I had a car fit for a student. Nevertheless, perhaps I could have deflected the blame onto Fiat, which was surely aware its creation was capable of breaking the speed limit when going downhill on the M3. ...more

Macs turn around UK school

Apple is trumpeting the change in fortunes of a school in Hampshire after it equipped a new building with a complete Mac-based IT infrastructure. Wildren School has seen the pass rate for five or more A* to C grades rise from 38 per cent of pupils to 86 per cent, and headteacher Jeffery Threlfall says that it is the Macs that have made the difference. 'Our focus is on quality teaching and improving opportunities for children to learn, not on technology for its own sake. ...more

Samsung begins mass production of world's fast memory

Samsung, the world's biggest manufacturer of memory chips has announced that it has started to produce its next generation 256Mbit eXtreme Data Rate (XDR) DRAM in commercial quantities. XDR-DRAM is said to be around 10 times faster than the DDR-SDRAM commonly found in today's PCs and five times faster than RDRam with a throughput of 8Gb per second. Later this year the company said it will begin the manufacture of 512Mbit parts that can transmit data at the speed of 12. ...more

Microsoft injects Sega with Xtra hope

Sega has been left feeling vindicated in its decision to concentrate on software with the annoncement from Microsoft today that its Xbox console will launch with 11 Sega titles in Autumn. Sega games including Sega GT 2 and Panzer Dragoon will accompany the console's launch in Japan and the USA. The company will also supply titles to Xbox's more established rival, Sony's PS2. ...more

ASA rules against Dell TV campaign

The Advertising Standards Authority has criticised Dell for a recent TV ad which quoted a price not available by default online. However, the ruling cleared the practice of including upgraded components in the online spec that have been selected by default (for example, extended service support). The TV ad said, 'Whatever you need a PC for, Dell has the one you want for less than you might expect. ...more