MasterCard to take action over phishing attacks

Credit card giant MasterCard International is to go on the offensive to halt the spread of 'phishing' attacks on the Internet. The company is now going to actively search out phishers on the Internet whose attacks rose a whopping 684 per cent from January to May this year. 'Phishing' is the process whereby a person is persuaded by the use of fraudulent emails or other means to reveal personal details such as passwords, PIN numbers or credit card details to criminals. ...more

Sony announces budget digital camera

With digital cameras getting smaller and more powerful, Sony has tossed its hat into the budget market. The new Sony DSC-P20 is a stylish digital still camera with MPEG video and animation features. The new CyberShot model has a 1. ...more

Bulldog cuts price of 4Mbps broadband by a third

Bulldog has cut 30 per cent from the price of its 4Mbps broadband and telephone services. The cuts follow an expansion of the LLU-based ISP's coverage, which will make it available to 30 per cent of UK homes and business by the second half of 2005. New customers signing up before 31 March will get the reduced rates for one year. ...more

Blu-ray and HD-DVD - no merger in prospect

The backers of Blu-ray and HD-DVD have given up hope of reaching an agreement to merge the two technologies and create a single standard for next-generation, high-definition DVDs, according to a Japanese newspaper. Yomiuri says that both Sony, the main force behind Blu-ray, and Toshiba, HD-DVD's creator, have conceded that even if an agreement could be reached there is no longer sufficient time to develop a single format before the launch of compatible products. 'Late August is the practical time limit,' said Yoshihide Fujii, Toshiba's corporate senior vice president. ...more

UPDATED: BT to offer Voice over IP phone calls for cable subscribers

BT has launched a service that will allow NTL and Telewest cable subscribers to make phone calls over the Internet using their existing cable line. The service will employ VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, which means that rather than calls being carried over a phone line, they will instead use cable subscribers' existing broadband connection. It is the first time that a major player in the UK telecommunications market has adopted VoIP to provide domestic phone services. ...more