Austrian 3G auctions suffer Italy's fate

Austria has failed to raise expected returns from its 3G mobile comms auctions, with the bidding closing after only two days after 16 rounds. The problem seems to stem from the fact that having the same number of bidders as there are licences available inevitably dampens competition. The first set of licences up for grabs was for 6 pairs of 5Mhz frequency packages. ...more

Broadband hopes raised for rural Scotland

The Scottish Executive has told an MP for one of the country's Highland regions that it is looking to bring broadband access to the few rural areas where it remains out of reach. Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Nicol Stephen told John Thurso, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross member of Parliament, that it is hoping to begin extending fast broadband access as early as this year, working into 2007. 'Over the past year, we have been collecting data about potential problem areas and have recently appointed independent consultants to assist us in our policy approach to the reach problem,' Stephen told Thurso. ...more

Intel bins big screen technology

Intel has ceased development of a major new flat screen technology that it saw replacing LCDs in large screen TVs and monitors. As recently as last January, the company said that the Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) technology would halve the cost of large screens before the end of this year. LCOS involves layering liquid crystal silicon onto transistors. ...more

New products @ Macworld expo

Throughout this week, we will be bringing you a daily digest of the new product releases to be announced at next week's Macworld expo in San Francisco. Today's highlights include a 147Gb hard drive and a 16x10x40x CD-RW, both from LaCie. The best of the rest follows. ...more

E-waste piles high in the Third World

The head of a UN environmental programme has condemned the 'growing mountains of E-waste' that the West is inflicting on developing countries. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was speaking in Nairobi (pictured, right) at the opening of the 8th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, which deals with the trans-national movement of hazardous waste. 'Consumerism is driving economies but also drives a growing mountain of E-waste not only from North to the South but South South - waste with a wide range of pollutants from heavy metals to chlorine compounds,' said Steiner. ...more