Government-backed Net safety campaign kicks off

A major government-backed campaign to raise public awareness of online security issues launched in London today. The campaign 'Get Safe Online' is a joint initiative between the Government, the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit and private sector sponsors, including HSBC, eBay and Microsoft, and aims to provide users with up-to-date information about online safety. People are being urged to visit the website www. ...more

Creative to acquire 3Dlabs

Creative Technology has announced it is to acquire 3Dlabs Inc as a subsidiary company pending government and shareholder approval. The cash and stocks deal would see 3Dlabs' high-end graphics technology at Creative's disposal along with a heap of IP rights and patents. The talk is of putting the graphics power traditionally found in a ?50,000 CAD workstation into the consumer market space, and challenge the throne of nVIDIA. ...more

Double-density CDs on the way

Sony Corporation announced today a new disc format that doubles the amount of data that can be stored on a CD. The new DDCD (Double Density Compact Disc) format has been proposed by Sony and Philips Electronics, and because the new format shares basic CD components with current standards, the new discs can be produced at a lower cost than DVDs. The downside is that DDCD discs have a third of the capacity of the rival DVD format. ...more

Transmeta goes Gigahertz

Transmeta, manufacturer of the low-power, low-heat Crusoe chips has announced the Crusoe TM6000 processor, which is a third as large as previous versions. The smaller volume means the TM6000 will be well placed for its target mobile devices. Mark Allen, president and chief executive officer, Transmeta Corporation, said: "The new Crusoe microprocessor is targeted at lightweight, full-feature notebooks; small and thin form factor devices, such as Tablet PCs; ultra dense servers; and a range of embedded systems that are migrating to x86, such as networking equipment, printers and set-top boxes. ...more

Security put on the boardroom backburner in rush to wireless networking

Despite a massive rise in wireless networking, just 20 per cent of companies turn on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) controls to protect network traffic. Remote access, wireless networks and PDAs maybe on the wish list for many businesses, but they are often being deployed without appropriate security provisions, according to the DTI's 2004 Information Security Breaches Survey. 'Many of those who want remote access appear to be the least aware of the additional risks it entails and/or are senior people in the organisation and have the power to authorise it,' said Andrew Beard, the PricewaterhouseCoopers advisory director leading the survey. ...more