Google lands contract to build wireless San Francisco

Search engine Google along with partner ISP EarthLink has landed the contract to provide a wireless network to cover the whole of the City of San Francisco. The 'Goolink WiFi' network will provide a 300Kbps free service, which will be subsidised by advertising. Alternatively, the network will offer a 1Mbps ad-free subscription service costing $20 a month. ...more

Government-backed Net safety campaign kicks off

A major government-backed campaign to raise public awareness of online security issues launched in London today. The campaign 'Get Safe Online' is a joint initiative between the Government, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and private sector sponsors, including HSBC, eBay and Microsoft, and aims to provide users with up-to-date information about online safety. People are being urged to visit the website www. ...more

Christmas shoppers stay indoors and online

Shopping is cheaper and warmer from PC In our recent poll on this site, 86 per cent of users said they would be doing their shopping online. Avoiding the traffic, winter weather, parking difficulties and other Christmas shoppers were all pointed out by our readers as reasons to avoud the high street. Better prices and the warmth and convenience of shopping from your home PC are all reasons most of us will be plugging in to the Internet to shop this Christmas. ...more

Apple Universal deal unlikely

The prospect of Apple buying the Universal Music Group appears to be unlikely, according to reports by both the New York Times and Reuters. News that Apple had held talks with Universal's owner, Vivendi, emerged last week, so unimpressed Wall Street that Apple's share price dropped to a five-year low. The New York Times quotes Michael Nathanson, a music analyst with Sanford Bernstein & Company, who said this suggests, 'that media investors did not take it seriously, because they are so aware of how bad the fundamentals of the music business are. ...more

Twenty-eight broadband dates

B ...more