Online poker loses its lustre

Online poker, the latest dot.com boom, is booming no more. PartyGaming, whose Party Poker website handles half of the world's online games, lost a third of its stock market value of $6bn yesterday after it revealed that growth had virtually come to a halt. ...more

IT lure of London is second only to San Francisco

London is second only to San Francisco as a location for technology companies, according to a new survey. More than 43 per cent of senior California-based ICT executives cited London as a global centre of convergence for the technology and creative industries, ranking the UK's capital second only to San Francisco. 'Global brands born in California, such as Apple and Google, have established international operations in London because the core components of convergence and business success - access to capital, talent, markets and infrastructure - come together here,' said Michael Charlton, chief executive of Think London, the foreign direct investment agency for London that commissioned the study. ...more

BenQ launches wireless mini mouse

One for those who like their mice wireless and optical, and small. BenQ has updated its range of peripherals with the BenQ RF M310 Wireless Mini Optical Mouse. Measuring 120 X 64 X 38 mm, the mini mouse works within a range of seven feet and comes in three flavours: Ferrari Red, Pearl White or Black Leather. ...more

Two in the Palm

Two new top of the range offerings for Palm's m100 and m500 series. Colour has traditionally put a PDA out of reach for the consumer pocket. But Palm's new m130 (pictured right) offers just that, in the form of a backlit 16-bit colour STN LCD screen, for ?229. ...more

Taiwan companies to make notebooks using desktop Prescott processors

Some second-tier Taiwanese notebook makers will roll out models using Intel desktop-use Prescott processors before the chip giant launches notebook-use Mobile Prescott processors in the second quarter of this year, according to sources. Aimed at the desktop replacement market, the desktop Prescott notebooks will weigh around 3-3.5 kilograms, have a thickness of about 40mm and consume around 103 watts of power, according to the sources. ...more