Nokia plays the multi-access card

Nokia has announced a PC card module that adds wireless access across a range of standards for people on the move. The Nokia D211 fits PC card type II and III slots and offers wireless network access via GPRS, HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) and WLAN (IEEE 802.11b), offering up to 40. ...more

IBM invents mouse device for hand tremor sufferers

Sufferers from Parkinson's disease and other people who suffer with hand tremors are now more able to use a computer. IBM has come up with a mouse that filters out the shaking caused by diseases of the central nervous system. For someone with hand tremors, using a mouse can be a frustrating business. ...more

EU considers mandatory logging of electronic communications

The EU is discussing whether to introduce mandatory logging of phone calls, emails and other electronic communications for up to one year. The European Commission believes such a law would help combat the threat of terrorism, but rejected a request by France, Ireland, the UK and Sweden to order records to be kept for three to four years. The Commissioner for information society and media, Viviane Reding, said that this would prove too costly for phone companies and ISPs. ...more

Release date set for Maya

Alias|Wavefront has finally set a release date for the long-awaited Mac debut of its professional 3D design and animation package Maya. Maya Complete for Mac OS X will ship on or before 25 September, and Alias|Wavefront has started taking pre-orders for the software. Anyone who buys the product before the end of this year will get one year of free maintenance, including free upgrades and support. ...more

Big Brother - 2001 style

New technology means that criminals can be identified as soon as a CCTV camera spots them, and such a scheme was implemented at last week's Superbowl in the US. Hidden cameras at the US-football final scanned the faces of over 100,000 fans and compared their pictures to those of criminals stored in a database. So if you were a wanted criminal or terrorist, the software would soon identify you, as it cross-checked FBI databases at a rate of a million images a minute. ...more