And also today (27-June-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. New Fujitsu mini-notebook Fujitsu has released a more powerful version of its mini-notebook LifeBook B Series. Measuring 9. ...more

Virtual racing beats crisis

Being a hardened gambler, I am particularly saddened to see that the current foot and mouth crisis that's gripping this fair isle has affected the sport of kings, with most racing fixtures, including the Cheltenham Festival being called off. You can imagine my relief when I heard that that the good folk at the Racing Post have thrown fans of the sport a lifeline in the shape of a series of virtual races. Today, if you visit the Racing Post site, you'll be able to watch the action from 3. ...more

Telewest revival renews NTL merger rumours

Telewest shares jumped 10 per cent yesterday after the company's managing director predicted that the cable operator would make a trading profit in the fourth quarter of 2003. The news renewed suggestions that Telewest may merge with rival cable operator NTL in 2004. Talk of merger before now has always been overshadowed by the vast debts both companies had incurred whilst swallowing up the UK's cable franchises However, Telewest is expected to complete the restructuring of its ?5. ...more

MSN to launch its own paid listings service for search

Microsoft is taking the battle for search engine dominance deep into the heart of enemy territory with the launch of its own paid listings programme. Despite its contract with Yahoo! Search Marketing Solutions (formerly Overture), running until 2006, Microsoft has apparently decided it needed to road test its own service now. At the Sixth Annual MSN Strategic Account Summit it has announced the MSN adCenter which is based, like MSN Search, on Microsoft's own technology. ...more

Sun to rent CPU time on server farm

Sun's COO Jonathan Schwartz has outlined a new direction for his company in the form of a cycle farm. Such a farm would rent out CPU time by the hour for a nominal charge - 99 cents for the use of a dual CPU 'node' - meaning that companies with complex computing tasks which only need to be done a few times a year can send that job to the cycle farm, rather than having to lay out for a rarely used server farm of their own. And any spare capacity left over once the job is complete can be sold back to the farm. ...more