Launched on the 4th of July

Can't make up your mind whether or not to be trained for war in the Land of the Brave? You're in luck: find out for free! America's Army, the first-person shooter developed by, funnily enough, the American Army, is now available for download from various sites in the US. Around 4 million has been spent on the 'game' in the last two years, the whole idea of the project being to woo new recruits. Based on the Unreal engine, the title is a squad-based tactical shooter, putting you through the rigours of boot camp - although we're pretty sure American drill instructors are a little more curt than the virtual representation - to the real world, modern scenarios of shooting terrorists in various locations. ...more

Losses mount as online bank fraud jumps 55 per cent

Online banking fraud cost the industry ?22.5m in the first half of the year, according to APACS - a rise of 55 per cent. And phishing incidents increase nearly 1,500 per cent. ...more

Lightweight Flybook touches down in the UK

Currently billed as the lightest tablet PC available, the 1.2kg Flybook A330i has just touched down in the UK. In fairness, part of the reason it is so light is because it is physically small, as opposed to having used particularly light components. ...more

UK youth are below average PC users

An EU survey of 10,000 young Europeans has found that weekly use of a PC in the UK is trailing that of other countries including Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and Portugal. The 15 to 24-year-olds polled, between April and May of this year, were found to be a Web-savvy lot, with 37 per cent using the Internet and 31 per cent email (this compares with 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, in 1997). The relatively high usage of technology within northern member states was balanced by the likes of Greece, which had only 20 per cent Internet and 12 per cent email usage. ...more

EU eyes mobile roaming costs

The EU will later today tell national telecoms regulators that it will force them to cut the cost of using a mobile phone outside of your home country. Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for Information, Society and Media, described international roaming charges as 'fantasy costs' and plans to cap them to same level as the price of calls to a different network. Assuming it is approved by the European Parliament the new law will not come into effect until 2007 or even 2008. ...more