Bland to invest ?1m in BT

The new chairman of BT, Sir Christopher Bland, is to invest ?1m of his own money in BT shares, according to reports on the Web. Although we can't verify this, the move will be seen as a statement of faith from the new chairman. However, it won't mean Bland will be destitute if BT's stock continues to fall - he is already a millionaire several times over though investments and high-profile jobs at LWT and the BBC. ...more

Microsoft settles Iowa antitrust lawsuit

Microsoft has reached an out-of-court settlement with lawyers for the Iowa class action lawsuit, which alleged that the software giant had violated state consumer laws by overcharging for its Windows operating system. The precise terms of the settlement will not be disclosed until it has been given preliminary approval by the court, expected in April. The plaintiffs were seeking compensation totalling $329 million. ...more

RealNetworks unleashes Helix DNA Server code

RealNetworks has made the source code to its Helix DNA Server available. Helix DNA Server is the core source code of RealNetworks' Helix Universal Server, the commercial media server announced in July. The DNA Server is the third component of source code released into the Helix community of developers, adding to the DNA client (player) and producer (encoder) source codes announced last year. ...more

CeBIT 2005: Samsung launches first 7 megapixel phone

While it took the photographic industry several years before it produced the first 7 megapixel compact digital camera, the mobile phone industry is wasting no such time. Samsung has today announced a world first with the 7 million pixel SCH-V770 which, it has been reported, boasts manual focus, shutter priority, AE lock and an optical zoom as well as MP3 functionality and a business card reader. The SCH-V770, which can also take telephoto and wide-angle converter lenses, is due to make its debut at CeBIT, Germany tomorrow. ...more

Summer debut for faster wireless

Intel has announced that it will begin introducing its faster wireless networking products in the UK and Europe in June, but Macs wont be able to take advantage of it. Current UK wireless networks, such as Apple's AirPort, are based on the 802.11b specification which gives transfer rates up to 11Mbps (megabits per second). ...more