Oftel pushes BT for more broadband competition

Oftel has announced further proposals to force BT to offer more competitive deals to operators in order to create more competition. It is the growing market for leased lines that has come under the watchful eye of Oftel this time, with obligations being placed on BT to provide better deals, such as implementing minimum contracts, enabling operators of these services to better compete with BT. Further examination into BT's pricing of leased lines will be implemented in phase 2 of the proposals. ...more

Dixons wipes the VCR from its stores

The news that the Dixon's group is to stop selling the venerable VCR is the end of an era. As with the launch of Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' CD in the early 1980s which was seen as the tipping point between the LP and the CD, so today's announcement will be seen as the day we all moved to digital video. Since the first machines hit the shelves in the 1970s, Dixons has sold millions of the devices and by 2002 90 per cent of UK households had one. ...more

Microsoft announces more redundancies

Microsoft is to lose 62 software testing jobs from its Windows Core Operating System Division according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The job cuts, said to be effective from last week are because Microsoft now feels able to replace manual testing with automated versions. The new losses are part of a general move away from manual testing at Microsoft. ...more

Mozilla issues fixes for Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey

Mozilla has released updated versions of Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey that address several critical security vulnerabilities. Firefox 1.5. ...more

Iomega Cliks on MP3

Iomega is attempting to revive its Clik disk format with a combined digital music player and Clik drive. The HipZip takes 40MB Clik disks, or PocketZip as the format's now called, and connects to a PC much like the Clik drives of old. The player comes with synchronisation software for transferring files, plus ripping software for creating MP3s or Windows Media Audio (WMA) files. ...more