Another filter for safe surfing

The Internet Content Rating Association has released the ICRAfilter for parents to screen Internet content. Having worked to introduce a voluntary, source-embedded syntax for describing content (by which over 50,000 sites are labelled, apparently), ICRA's new filtering tool 'reads' the labels to help ensure content is filtered according to predefined values. According to Stephen Balkam, CEO of ICRA: 'It is important to state that no organisation, including ICRA, can guarantee a 100 per cent safe surfing experience. ...more

Divided states of America

The US states are split in their reaction to the federal government's deal with Microsoft. As we reported yesterday, Massachusetts was the first state to declare against the deal and indications are that California is in the same camp. In contrast, the states of New York and Illinois have reportedly struck a tentative agreement with Microsoft. ...more

03-03-2001 Essential news of the week

Brought neatly together and presented on a plate, here is a roundup of some of the week's main news stories from the world of IT. JVC puts movies in your pocket Psion takes a dive Samsung unveils 24in LCD monitor Clash of the MP3 player titans IBM releases groundbreaking PowerPC chip Gnutella spoiled by Ferrero Intel puts its eggs in notebooks and servers NVIDIA gear up GeForce3 and Go! New improved online adverts Once more unto the courts, dear Microsoft Don't forget, we welcome your comments. Just click on a story and go for the 'Comments' link on the right-hand side of the screen. ...more

Britain a nation of online shoppers

Britain's Internet users are Europe's shopaholics according to a new survey. 63 per cent of British home Internet users have bought something over the web in the past three months. This compares to only 55 per cent and 48 per cent for Germany and Sweden, which are the next biggest online shoppers and only 43 per cent for Europe as a whole. ...more

Blogosphere balloons

Blogging is rapidly becoming one of the favourite online activities. The Technorati website says it is currently tracking just under 19 million blogs. Furthermore, the practice shows no sign of diminishing. ...more