New cars in Europe to feature UltraWideBand radar

The EU is to permit the introduction of short range radar in new cars from the middle of this year. The move represents the first implementation of ultraWideband (UWB) in Europe. Once fitted to a car, the radar would be used to prevent or mitigate collisions by applying the brakes when an object appears in the path. ...more

BT boss rails against regulators

BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen has launched an attack on European telecom regulators, saying that they are to blame for the lack of 100 per cent broadband coverage, reports ZDNet UK. Speaking in London this week, he accused them of having a narrowband approach to broadband issues and failing to back risk-takers. Unlike narrowband, he said, broadband comes in several forms - ADSL, cable, 3G and satellite for example - and should not be subject to the same restrictions. ...more

Who's your Daddy, DVD?

Matsushita has announced a 'world first' optical rewritable disc technology that will mean 50Gb of storage per disc. The technology uses a 10mW blue laser (as opposed to the red lasers used in DVD and CD drives, which also draw 10mW) to read a dual-layer optical disc. The top layer is semi-transparent and only six nanometres thick. ...more

Apple unveils AirPort Express mobile Wi-Fi for Internet, printer and music sharing

Apple has introduced a new wireless networking system, a 802.11g mobile base station that can be plugged into a DSL broadband modem for wireless Internet connections, provide wireless sharing of any USB printer, and can be connected to a hi-fi for streaming music wirelessly around the house. The AirPort Express unit plugs straight into a power socket in any room - it can even be used to share a broadband link in a hotel. ...more

Firefox 2 beta 1 sees light of day

Mozilla has released the first beta of version two of the popular Firefox browser. The beta features an anti-phishing tool that is turned on by default. In the same vein as Microsoft's upcoming Internet Explorer 7, the technology checks URLs against a list of known phishing sites. ...more