Microsoft contract win put down to Linux skills shortage

Microsoft may find a monopoly on developers will help it maintain its grip on the software market in the face of Linux alternatives. Redmond is currently touting the roll-out by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) of Microsoft's server and back-end technology in its e-commerce driven online portal as a win over Linux, the platform on which the site originally ran. But Richard Carlson, Head of Business Systems, RICS, said that the decision to go with Microsoft was taken very early on before the job was put out to tender - on the basis that RICS' in-house developers were in the main Microsoft coders. ...more

IPTV companies club on single standards push

Companies that provide TV over the Internet (IPTV) joined forces on Monday to set a single global standard so that systems can work together. The Open IPTV Forum is backed by companies including Ericsson, Matsushita's Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Siemens AG, Sony, AT&T, Telecom Italia and France Telecom. Not on the starting list are Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft, the market leaders and alliance partners in IPTV networks and software. ...more

Canon unveils its smallest ever digital camera

Canon has introduced its smallest ever digital camera, the 'IXUS i' weighing a mere 100g. The 90.3 x 47 x 18. ...more

Toshiba gets more blue in the tooth

Toshiba announces a new Bluetooth SDIO card. Supporting Bluetooth wireless comms, the updated card is aimed at PCs, PDAs, mobile phones and digicams - anything equipped with an SD slot. Toshiba released its first Bluetooth SDIO card back in July 2001 - with the Japanese launch of its 'Genio' PocketPC-based handheld. ...more

Yahoo! adds video search

Yahoo! has added a 'video search function to its index. Searchers can search from some five million different videos in a variety of popular multimedia files. Yahoo!'s video database contains video files in all the most common formats including media files, including MPEG, AVI, Microsoft's Windows Media, Apple Computer's QuickTime, and Real Networks' Real Media. ...more