Samsung demos 4G mobile communications

Korean electronics giant Samsung is showing off its 4G technology at its annual industry forum. The company claims that it is the world's first practical demonstration of the possibility of fourth generation mobile telecoms. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defines 4G technology as one that will allow data transfer rates of 1Gbit/sec at nomadic circumstances and 100Mbps at mobile circumstances. ...more

Sony does u-turn for MP3 support

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corporation has reversed its policy and now says that it will support the popular MP3 file format for some of its portable music players. The company says that a new range of flash memory-based portable music players will be able to play both MP3 and Atrac formats. Previously Sony had insisted that its customers use its own proprietary Atrac format, forcing them to convert if they wanted to change to and from MP3. ...more

Intel puts the surf into surfboard

When you think of California what comes to mind? Images of high-tech Silicon Valley technology, or surfers on Pacific waves? Well, put the two together and you would come up with the very improbable Intel Wireless Technology Surfboard. This rather unique Centrino-based piece of kit will be appearing in the UK for the 2004 GoldCoast Oceanfest, held in Devon 18-20 June. The solar powered board contains a Rock T200 tablet laptop, with a 1. ...more

Palm hires ex-Apple man to meet iPhone challenge

Palm has appointed a former Apple engineer to oversee its attempts to meet the iPhone's challenge to the entire handheld industry. Paul Mercer was the lead designer of the System 7 version of the Mac operating system, before leaving to set up a company whose development system software was used by Apple when it was creating the iPod's interface. More recently he worked on the interface for Samsung's Z5 MP3 player. ...more

Microsoft warns European employees of fine

Microsoft employees in Europe have been warned that the company faces fines of up to €2 million a day. In an email apparently 'leaked' to a news site, Horacio Gutierrez, a Microsoft Associate General Council, told the Microsoft EMEA staff that the company was doing everything possible to comply. If the Commission decides to go ahead, it will fine the company for not providing sufficient documentation, i. ...more