France Telecom poised for C&W buy

France Telecom is reportedly poised to buy Cable & Wireless, owner of the Bulldog ISP, for 5.9bn Euros (?4bn). If the deal goes ahead, it will be the second time that Bulldog has changed hands recently, having been bought by C&W in June 2004. ...more

Corel draws in Micrografx

In a stock-for-stock transaction, Corel has acquired Micrografx the venerable design and charting software company whose products include Designer and Picture Publisher, as well as some business process documentation tools. The move is part of Corel's strategy to concentrate on "creative" graphic products before more fully embracing Web functionality across its range. Derek Burney, president and CEO of Corel, identified three main motives behind the deal: to broaden Corel's portfolio in the "technical illustration" market, to incorporate new Micrografx technology to deliver rich content for the Web, and to invest in Micrografx's Enterprise Process Management (EPM) division, which is seen as a new and lucrative market for Corel. ...more

One billion and counting

Approximately one billion PCs have now shipped worldwide, according to industry analyst Gartner. This landmark figure for the dominance of personal computers is projected from the combined desktop and laptop shipments of PC manufacturers worldwide. Approximate figures they may be - with the count starting from the mid-70s - but April 2002 was the likely shipping date for that special billionth PC. ...more

Apple closes in on widescreen and wireless players

By addressing the 'central issue' of battery life in its new 5G iPods, Apple is getting closer to adding widescreen and wireless to the portable player, according to American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. He believes that these are likely to be introduced in the first half of 2007. 'With the advancements in battery life of over 70 per cent, we believe Apple is one step (or perhaps two steps) closer in adding widescreen and/or Bluetooth capabilities,' he wrote in a note to investors. ...more

Early Mimail gets the worm

While attention is focused worldwide on MyDoom, another version of the venerable Mimail worm has resurfaced. And Inor-C (aka Dumaru) is not far behind. Mimail-M following the family pattern, by phishing for banking details. ...more