Internet telephony the key to the automated home?

The fledgling Net telephony service Skype has received a boost from one of Europe's biggest electronics companies. Siemens has announced a wireless handset for the service with the aim of becoming a (very) remote control for your heating, lighting and other domestic services. The Skype service is still in its beta form with the commercial launch date still months away. ...more

CeBIT 2007 video: The Flybook angle-poise laptop

Dialogue has used its CeBIT stand to demonstrate its Flybook VM laptop, due to make its UK debut in May. The VM looks much like any other laptop until you pull the screen up and angle it over the keyboard. Not only does this give the machine its unique look, but Flybook also claims that it makes the VM far more comfortable to operate than other laptops. ...more

Vending machines to sell music downloads for cash

A new venture will allow consumers to use hard cash to pay for digital music at a huge variety of public places. Inspired Broadcast Networks is working with Entertainment UK, using BT's DSL broadband network to offer digital music to buy via mobile phone, kiosks, vending machines and networked jukeboxes, as well as more sophisticated mobile devices. It means that you can go into pubs, clubs, shops and other places you might expect to find a vending machine and pay for digital music with cash or card. ...more

The Internet is a cult - official

Results of a new survey issued by statistical company Ipsos-Reid reveals that only an estimated 6 per cent of the world's population is online. According to research from International research firm Ipsos-Reid, billions of people haven't even heard of the Internet let alone have any intention of buying a computer and getting online. Even in countries such as the United States, Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands, about one-third of people who could have access to the World Wide Web choose not to. ...more

Bill Gates rates business blogging

Bill Gates rates blogging as the perfect medium between the impositions of email and the distance of a website. In a speech to CEOs at Microsoft's CEO Summit, Redmond's Chief Software Architect detailed how blogging - essentially an online diary - solves the problem of either relying on your audience to check your website for new content proactively or relying on intrusive emails where you decide who would like to know about the new content. Using an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed, anyone interested in knowing when there is new content on a blog gets alerted and can decide whether or not to view it. ...more