HP launches budget digicam for Christmas

Three HP digicams are under starters orders, including a 2.3megapixel unit for ?179 including VAT. The HP photosmart 318 (pictured) is to launch in October and packs a 2. ...more

EU gives green light to ?16m fibre network for North Yorkshire

The European Commission has approved a new ?16 million fibre optic network that will bring high speed broadband services to 330,000 households and 50,000 businesses in North Yorkshire. The Commission concluded that the county council's investment is unlikely to cause undue distortion of competition and is therefore compatible with rules governing state aid. It noted that North Yorkshire's geography and local economy discourage commercial operators from providing advanced broadband services in many rural parts of the region. ...more

PC Pro: Price of Labs-winning notebook to rise

Misco has today informed us that the cost price (that is, the price Misco pays the manufacturer) of the HP Compaq nx6125 bundle, which won the PC Pro group test in the latest issue, has risen by ?50. The bundle will now cost ?769 (?904 inc VAT) rather than ?720 (?846 inc VAT). HP says that the price rise is due to the increased cost of components and the drop in the pound-dollar rate. ...more

US Judge closes phone tap loophole

The US government has to have a search warrant before it can collect information from a phone call - even if all that is being collected are numbers being typed into the keypad, such as for an automated phone system. A judge in Texas has ruled that the same rules apply to collecting numerical data as would to tapping conversations in a phone call. Government investigators are using technology originally used to monitor the number dialled to eavesdrop on a number of call redirecting and telephone based authentication services, including bank account numbers, social security numbers or prescription refills. ...more

Computer Associates' patent donation is slammed

Greg Aharonian, a vehement campaigner for higher quality patents, slammed Computer Associates' patent donation last week to the open source community as a 'fraud to impress the naive'. CA's donation of some 14 patents last Wednesday covers areas such as application development and modeling, business intelligence and analytics, systems management and storage management solutions and network management and security tools. They involve both US and international patents. ...more