Disney pays $7.4bn for Pixar

Walt Disney has agreed to pay $7.4bn in stock to aquire Pixar Animation. As we reported yesterday Pixar CEO Steve Jobs will join Disney's board of directors while his colleague John Lasseter becomes chief creative officer of the animation studios. ...more

Oftel reveals DSL exchanges.

Oftel has revealed the locations of the first batch of BT's local DSL (digital subscriber line) exchanges, well ahead of its July 2001 deadline. So far 28 companies have been given shared space in 361 exchanges. There are a further 5,000 exchanges where demand has far outstripped capacity, and Oftel has yet to reach a decision on which companies will be able to use the exchanges to upgrade their local loops. ...more

Nine year old becomes Microsoft Certified Professional

At an age when most girls are more interested in dolls than databases, nine year old Arfa Karim Randhawa from Pakistan is something of an exception. She has just become one of the world's Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP). Arfa recently received her certificate from Emre Berkin, chairman of Microsoft's Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and Jawwad Rehman, Microsoft's country manager for Pakistan. ...more

Intel changes Springdale specifications

Intel on November 15 notified its motherboard clients that it has decided to change its Springdale chipset's FSB (front-side bus) speed from 667MHz to 800MHz and its memory architecture from dual-channel DDR333 to dual-channel DDR400, motherboard company sources said. Though they still need some time to study whether they have to alter the board layouts to accommodate the new specifications, manufacturers said that they expected changes would be limited in general. Besides the specification changes, Intel also slightly adjusted its product portfolio by adding one Canterwood and one Springdale PE chipsets, both set to be introduced in the second quarter of 2003. ...more

BT scores victory over Freeserve

Freeserve has been rapped for an leaflet which claimed that its Internet service offered unlimited usage. The leaflet, headed 'win ?100,000 and be free to blow it on what you want', claimed, 'With Freeserve AnyTime, you'll have the freedom to go on the Internet any time of day and night for as long as you like. Rival ISP BT Openworld objected to the leaflet because Freeserve's terms and conditions state, 'We reserve the right to disconnect you after two hours continuous use and/or after 10 minutes of inactivity during connection. ...more