iTunes Europe set for launch next week

Apple seems set to launch its iTunes Music Store in Europe next week. The company is holding a 'special event' on Tuesday 15 June and although the inivitation is not explicit, it contains the iPod multicoloured dancing people and the words 'The biggest story in music is about to get bigger'. iTMS is compatible with both Mac OS and Windows, and has established itself as the leading online music downloads service in the US since its launch last year. ...more

Government backing for women in IT

The Government is to give financial backing to an initiative to attract more women into IT. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Patricia Hewitt, has announced ?1m of backing for the new female-friendly fund. Available for high-tech companies to draw on, it is intended to help smooth the path of women returning to work after having a family. ...more

AMD attacks megahertz-myth with new XP processor

AMD describes its new Athlon XP 2600+ as the 'world's highest-performing processor for desktop PCs'. For what is its new flagship desktop processor, AMD asks consumers to ignore the simple headline figures for operating speed in terms of clock cycles per second (the XP 2600+ clocks 2.13GHz). ...more

Mobile Java - the Nokia edition

Nokia and Borland are getting together to help make sweet Java - for wireless applications, that is. The two corporations have announced a new set of Java tools for mobile applications, with the intention of extending Java's reach. The new release is the JBuilder Mobile Set, Nokia Edition, which is compliant with Sun's specification for the Java2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME, basically a subset of Java for embedding in devices). ...more

Broadband dates for twenty exchanges

A further 20 BT telephone exchanges will be broadband enabled in May. They will be ready for service as follows: Brixworth, Northamptonshire; Goole, Humberside; and Sleaford, Lincolnshire on 7 May. Alresford, Hampshire; Galashiels, Borders; Halstead, Essex; Horseley Fields, West Midlands; Liphook, Hampshire; Netwon Llantwit, Mid Glamorgan; New Mills, Derbyshire; and Thirsk, North Yorkshire on 14 May. ...more