Petrol famine causes e-commerce chaos

With many UK supermarket chains having rapidly expanded their online activities over the past six months, the companies have been hit hard by the recent petrol shortages. So much so that Tesco has formed a crisis group to keep its online services up and running. Waitrose has completely suspended its Internet shopping service and is unable to accept new orders for goods at its Gifts Direct or Organic Foods Direct services. ...more

Korea to create all-standard mobile city

Not content with building a Linux city, South Korea has now announced plans to create a 'mobile paradise'. Later this year the country's government will designate an area where almost all wireless technologies will be available, enabling people to stay permanently connected and, more importantly, enabling businesses to field-test their products. 'This is kind of a free technology zone that will play the role of test bed for Korean exporters,' said Hyung Tae-gun, director general at the Ministry of Information and Communication. ...more

Everyone loves My Little Tony

A while ago I reported on the PortaBush, a virtual President of the USA for the Palm. I wondered why there wasn't a virtual Tony Blair and now it seems that someone must have been listening, as a new Web site has appeared with a virtual PM for you to abuse. The MyLittleTony. ...more

Crossword-solving system strikes a blow for AI

A crossword-solving computer program has struck another blow for artificial intelligence by beating all 25 humans in completing two English-language puzzles and one Italian and English bilingual puzzle in a competition in Italy. Two different versions of the WebCrow software competed - one running from its 'home' machine at the University of Siena and a streamlined version installed on a lesser computer at the competition venue - and they took first and second place in the competition to finish the three non-cryptic puzzles in the quickest time. 'It exceeded our expectations because there were around 15 Americans in the competition,' Marco Ernandes, who created WebCrow along with Giovanni Angelini and Marco Gori told New Scientist said. ...more

Broadband connections rise 250 per cent in 12 months

The number of broadband connections across the UK has risen by 250 per cent over the past year, according to new figures from industry-regulator Oftel. Oftel's latest Internet and Broadband brief shows that there are more than 1.77m broadband subscribers - 960,000 via cable modem and 810,000 via ADSL, compared to around half a million 12 months ago. ...more