A low-down on... Digital Signatures

As we become increasingly involved with electronic transactions - whether it be buying, selling or communicating personal information - the role of the digital signature will be central. However, this will not be a lengthy exposition on the principles of cryptography or encryption. Rather, the emphasis will be more practical - on why digital signatures are important and how they can be used. ...more

Intel confirms moving up Paxville server schedule

In confirmation of previous reports stating Intel may move up the launch of its next-generation 90nm dual-core Intel Xeon processor MP (Paxville), the chip giant has stated that development is ahead of schedule and the company will accelerate the availability of dual-core, hyper-threaded Intel Xeon processors and Intel Xeon processors MP. Originally due in 2006, Intel plans to introduce Paxville for servers with four or more processors later in 2005. Intel claims Paxville will provide more than 60 percent better performance over previous generations and will use the Intel E8500 chipset, which has been designed for dual-core performance and was introduced earlier this year. ...more

UK public gives support to e-voting - survey

Almost half of British voters would be more likely to participate if offered electronic voting methods, according to survey by YouGov. According to the poll, which was commissioned by telco ntl:Telewest Business, 46 per cent of the 2,287 adults surveyed said they would give their support to electronic voting and would be more likely to vote because of it. Younger voters are even more supportive of such voting technology, with 57 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds saying it would make them more likely to vote. ...more

Palm OS 6 ready for end of year release, says PalmSource

Palm's software division, PalmSource, says that it new generation operating system OS 6 will be ready for release by the end of the year, with products expected to begin shipping in 2004. PalmSource would not discuss the finer details of the new platform, but has made it clear that it will focus on enhanced wireless capability, improved security for data transfers and multimedia. The company has briefed developers on the advanced features of the software during a three-day conference earlier this month, but the details have not been made publicly available. ...more

Apple drops prices on Mac mini RAM

After widespread criticism of the prices of its memory for the Mac mini, Apple has cut the cost of upgrading the machine to its maximum of 1GB by ?70, to ?220. However, in what appears to be a mistake in its online store, the company continues to list the price of memory as a whopping ?561. The company recently cut the prices of its memory in the US, with a 1GB upgrade now costing $325 - at current exchange rates, this equates to ?173 - and the company has followed suit in the UK. ...more