Start-up Dipsie seeks out hidden pages

A US start-up has come up with a way of exposing web pages to search engine spiders that are currently invisible. These might include pages inside databases, or which use JavaScript or flash-based navigation that is impossible for a search engine robot to follow or sites based around frames. Typically, the solution has been to use a technique known as 'cloaking which intercepts a search engine spider and redirects it to index content which is different to that which a human might see if they are visiting the page. ...more

UK mobile users pay double for roaming calls

The results of an Oftel study today show that UK consumers are paying twice as much to make international roaming calls than their European counterparts in France, Germany, Sweden and Italy. Not only do the British pay over the odds to make calls from abroad, the study found that we can pay as much as ?1.50 per minute to receive them while abroad in the EU. ...more

Ofcom shies away from the break up of BT

Ofcom has backed away from the break up of BT in its Strategic Review of Telecoms instead it is proposing a new `regulatory contract` which will provide a proper framework for competition in the future. Under the latest Phase 2 of its strategic review of telecoms, the regulator admits that 20 years of regulation has not provided the healthy and dynamic market in fixed line telecoms that the architects of privatisation envisaged. Instead, it catalogues a history of slow product development, inferior wholesale products, poor transactional processes and lack of transparency. ...more

More WAP phone fun

Picofun has developed the first multiplayer WAP game for the general packet radio system (GPRS). The new game is called Fight Arena and sees the player taking on the mantle of one of fifteen characters, each with different abilities and weaponry. The game is packed with over 100 individual full-screen images and will allow players to challenge opponents in a matter of moments. ...more

AOL broadcasts not CD quality, raps Advertising Authority

AOL UK has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for claiming that its broadband radio broadcasts were CD quality. The ASA ruled that a poster - 'AOL 9.0 on broadband featuring: Radio@AOL. ...more