AOL floats ICQ Lite

AOL is today expected to release a new version of the ICQ instant messenger today, to be known as ICQ Lite. The new software will be separate from, but interoperable with, AOL's other IM, http://www.aim. ...more

Sony to launch world's first solid-state laptop

Sony will introduce the first laptop to use solid-state flash memory instead of a traditional hard drive next month, according to the Korea Times. The compact notebook will use the 32GB solid-state drive (SSD) that weighs half as much as an HDD, but reads data three times faster and writes 1.5 times faster. ...more

Norway points the way to TV on your phone

Norwegian TV is so good that people even want to watch it on their mobiles. Either that or our Nordic cousins are very tolerant of watching small-scale vide on their smartphones. These are the conclusions you may draw from the BBC report that Norwegian public broadcaster NRK is trialling the transmission of TV to mobiles. ...more

RIAA flags concern over digital radio

The US record industry has asked regulators to adopt measure to prevent music 'piracy' from digital radio broadcasts. Although the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says it is not against the recording of the CD-quality transmissions, it wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules 'that would protect music played through digital radio receivers from widespread piracy'. Primarily, the RIAA is concerned about the automated recording of individual songs - often from a preset 'wishlist' - and their subsequent distribution over the Internet. ...more

BlackBerry service stymied by TIFF flaw

BlackBerry builder Research In Motion has admitted its BlackBerry Attachment Service could be knocked offline by a carefully tweaked TIFF file. The flaw was first notified by a German security consultant known as FX, also leader of the Phenoelit hacking group, in a presentation at the 22nd Chaos Communication Congress last year. RIM claims the scope of the attack is limited to taking down the attachment service alone, and says that other services such as sending and receiving email remain unaffected. ...more