08-09-2001 Essential news of the week

Brought neatly together and presented on a plate, here is a roundup of some of the week's main news stories from the world of IT. DoJ abandons call for Microsoft breakup Microsoft demos its new Pocket PC platform Ericsson launches GPRS mobile phone A new series of multi-media VAIOs ECTS 2001: ECTS awards, er, awarded Motorola breaks semiconductor barrier Hewlett-Packard and Compaq to merge Adobe offers 75 per cent education discount Cutting the cost of ASDL installation Talking the language of Office XP Don't forget, we welcome your comments. Just click on a story and go for the 'Comments' link on the right-hand side of the screen. ...more

BT moves out of Japan, sells to Vodafone

BT has agreed to sell Vodafone its share in Japan Telecom and Spanish firm Airtel Moviles for ?4.9bn. The deal will make Vodafone the majority shareholder in Japan Telecom and will give it a sizeable (55 per cent) chunk of cellular offshoot J-Phone. ...more

Sony plays mind games with patent

Sony has filed a patent on technology that will let you do away with your games console and play Sonic in your head - using ultrasonic sound waves. New Scientist reports that the patent covers a technology that allows ultrasound waves to be finely targeted to stimulate specific parts of the brain. This would potentially allow players to see, hear, and even smell and feel computer games. ...more

Google signs deal with Nokia

Mobile phone giant Nokia is set to announce a deal with Google that will see Google Talk offered on the Nokia 770 portable Internet Tablet. The announcement, due to be made on Tuesday, will allow 770 owners to have voice conversations and perform instant messaging on the device. The 770 Internet Tablet, which currently costs ?245 in the UK, runs the Linux-based Tablet 2005 software and currently offers a web browser, email client, Internet radio, media player and notebook. ...more

Fast ADSL2+ Net services benefit minority

Less than half of the UK population are able to benefit from the high broadband speeds offered by ADSL2+. Although the technology, which has just been introduced at a handful of exchanges, has a top speed of 24Mbps, only a tiny minority of Net users will get anywhere near that. In fact the length of your local loop - the distance along your phone line from your modem to the DSL kit in the local exchange - must be less than 300m. ...more