BT defends Vodafone over VoIP-stripping

Vodafone's precedent-setting measure of stripping VoIP software from Nokia's N95 phone to prevent consumers taking advantage of cheap internet calls doesn't spell doom for the mobile VoIP industry, according to BT. David Woodbridge, BT Retail's chief of devices, defended the network, saying it was 'ok' for the company to ask Nokia to 'take out the client on their variant of a product'. He also said the move would have limited impact, as 'more than 50 per cent of handsets are sold by independents. ...more

Wanted: 30,000 redundant PCs

Computer Aid International, which claims to be the biggest supplier of professionally refurbished computers to schools and community organisations in developing countries, is asking British companies to donate unwanted Pentium 3 and 4 PCs rather than throw them in a skip. So far, the organisation has re-equipped and shipped out 70,000 PCs to the developing world. The new campaign, groaningly called 'Make IT Happen', has set itself a target of refurbishing 100,000 PCs by its 10th birthday on the 10th October 2007 and so needs to find around 30,000 more unwanted bits of kit in 15 months. ...more

NTT announces holographic memory breakthrough

The Japanese telecommunications giant NTT has been pushing the boundaries of holographic storage. It's not quite 'Hamlet on the holo-deck' yet, in terms of three-dimensional imaging, but the holographic principles of light interference patterns are being used for a high-capacity storage device. Called Info-MICA (Information-Multilayered Imprinted CArd), the new memory is capable of storing 1GB of data within the size of a postage stamp, reports NE Asia Online. ...more

IEEE sets standard for USB drive authentication

The IEEE has approved a new standard for the authentication of USB flash drives and other personal storage devices. The standard, IEEE 1667 'Standard Protocol for Authentication in Host Attachments of Transient Storage Devices', was developed to address information security concerns. Specifically, defining uniform authentication methods to validate devices when they are connected to a computer. ...more

New Sober worm causes havoc with promises of World Cup tickets

The latest variant of the Sober worm is causing havoc across Europe according to security experts. Moscow-based Kasperky Labs says the worm is the most common malicious file in circulation and has already broken European records for numbers and speed of propagation, since its 2 May discovery. The UK's Sophos says four in five virus reports are due to this Sober variant and infected mail is taking up a big chunk of all email traffic. ...more