Anti-virus companies slam reporting procedures

Antivirus vendors claim that in order to bring virus writers to justice, we are going to need better ways of reporting infections. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for UK security specialist Sophos said that the current system effectively means you have to look around for victims after you have established that a crime has been committed: 'At the moment, what happens is that the police say "we're not interested until we catch someone", and when we catch someone we'll approach the antivirus companies and ask them whether they have any victims. 'I think that's an unnecessary pressure on the antivirus companies, to keep records of everyone who's been infected by a certain virus. ...more

iPod software updated

Apple has released an iPod software update that adds USB 2 syncing on Windows machines as well as a number of performance enhancements for both OS X and Windows. Mac improvements include better support for Asian languages, enhanced On-The-Go playlist functionality, fixed artist sorting, fixed left/right channel swapping and improvements to playback performance, handling of MP3 VBR songs, the backlight and the alarm clock The Windows update, in addition to adding USB 2 synchronisation, adds support for Audible.com content and the ability to have multiple iPods synced to one computer and improves overall performance. ...more

Colour screens drive global handset sales

Worldwide handset sales grew 6 per cent to reach 423.4 million units last year, boosted by replacement purchases of feature-packed mobile phones, according to a research report by Dataquest, a unit of Gartner. Fourth-quarter sales grew 14 per cent from a year earlier to 122. ...more

Sharp introduces world's first PDA with VGA resolution system LCD

On November 12, Sharp introduced a new Zaurus PDA, code-named SL-C700 and equipped with a 3.7-inch, 65,536-color, transmissive system LCD of VGA (640?480-pixel) resolution and a QWERTY keyboard. This is the world's first PDA using a Sharp-produced system LCD. ...more

Intel to cut Springdale prices in June

Intel plans to lower its 865 series (Springdale) chipset prices on June 29. A more significant price cut on 865-based motherboards can be expected only after the middle of the third quarter, when Taiwanese chipset designers catch up with Intel in product specifications, board makers said. Despite its plan to boost demand by cutting prices, Intel will only cut prices by US$1-2 on June 29, suggesting little pricing pressure in the current market. ...more