Comment: Free services threaten UK's broadband future

So-called 'free' broadband might have sounded like Internet nirvana when it was launched earlier this year by companies such as The Carphone Warehouse and Sky, but industry experts are warning that it could prove to be the nail in the coffin for Britain's high-speed Internet access. Some ISPs have complained to PC Pro that demand for broadband has soared so dramatically that Britain's telecoms infrastructure is close to breaking point. What's more, they claim the flood of new 'free' entrants could stall investment in the next-generation high-speed telecoms system that's set to replace the creaking ADSL network, because BT would no longer have sufficient market share to make it worthwhile. ...more

Sony delays Blu-ray movies

Delays in the delivery of the first Blu-ray players have prompted Sony to put back the release date for the first Blu-ray (BD) movies. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment had planned to ship the initial batch of nine titles on 23 May to coincide with the introduction by Samsung of the first BD player. But that has now been delayed by a month and the discs are now scheduled to go on shop shelves in the US on 20 June. ...more

Iframe scripting vulnerability affects Mozilla suite

The 'Iframe' JavaScript URL Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability afflicting Firefox has manifested itself in the Mozilla Internet applications suite. However it merits only a moderately critical rating as opposed to its extremely critical status in Firefox. The Mozilla Foundation has made changes to its servers that prevents hackers from exploiting the flaw in default Mozilla installations. ...more

mm02 writes off value of 3G investments

What was Gordon Brown's gain has been mm02's loss according to its latest preliminary financial results for the year. The Exchequer, of course was the recipient of revenue from the 3G licence bidding process. The UK telco has now bitten the bullet on the devaluation of its 3G investments and written them down to the tune of ?9. ...more

Intel cuts ribbon for Core 2 Duo processors

Today is the day that Intel officially cuts the ribbon on its next-gen, dual-core desktop processors the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors. The wraps came off a fortnight ago, when we also gave the technical lowdown on the new design. The company is releasing the first five desktop models of the dual-core version of its Core micro-architecture-based chip, promising a 40 percent increase in performance while being 40 per cent more energy efficient than its predecessors. ...more