Palm faces legal battle

Handheld device and software manufacturer Palm faces a potentially very serious legal threat from two Californians who allege that Palm handhelds damaged their PCs. The Pinnacle Law Group of San Francisco filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, seeking a class-action status. The suit alleges that the use of the Palm devices' 'hotsync' function, "damages or destroys the motherboards of certain PC brands", but does not specify which PC and Palm models are involved. ...more

Oftel states mobile prices still too high

Telecoms regulator Oftel has concluded, in a new report, that the price of mobile phone calls is too high, and it is introducing price controls that should shave off 20 per cent by the end of four years. In a bid to keep the market as competitive as possible, Oftel will introduce price controls of -12 per cent RPI (retail price inflation) per year for the amount network operators charge each other for connecting to their networks. These controls extend to all four current operators: Vodafone, BT Cellnet (now mm02), Orange and One2One, with Hutchison 3G expected to enter the market in the middle of next year. ...more

John Wiley signs up Symbian Press

In advance of the release of the EPOC-based Nokia 9290, "Symbian Press" is a new publishing imprint from John Wiley and Symbian, the consortium behind the EPOC operating system that powers Communicator devices. Aimed at developers, Symbian Press will be producing a range of titles designed "to help C++, Java and content developers to add value to the unique technologies offered by the Symbian OS". Essentially, the imprint will help the company share technical information about Symbian WIDs (Wireless information devices) and help establish the wireless industry standards that the company is following. ...more

'Green Shift' taskforce aims to cut IT carbon emissions

The government has set up a taskforce to cut CO2 emissions from IT equipment. IT kit is estimated to generate 35 million tonnes of the 'greenhouse gas' each year. The 'Green Shift' taskforce will be led by Manchester City Council and will oversee the introduction of 'green PCs' that use 98 per cent less energy than standard computers. ...more

Microsoft defends Exchange server from scripting attacks

Users of Microsoft's web based email service for Exchange Server are vulnerable to attack, it has emerged. Potential attackers can launch scripting attacks and manipulate web browser caches to include spoofed content. The details of the vulnerability, which has been classed as 'moderate' have been announced in the latest Microsoft security bulletin. ...more