Microsoft pays out on record revenues

Microsoft announces first ever annual dividend and a two-for-one stock split, posting record revenues for the second quarter. Software maker Microsoft waited until the financial market closed yesterday to announce its results and tell shareholders it would be making its first-ever annual dividend - of 16 cents a share - prior to splitting its stock two for one (creating more shares). This represents $870. ...more

NEC-Mitsubishi goes public with wide screen

At a price of ?100 an inch NEC-Mitsubishi has launched a 30 inch LCD screen costing ?3,000 (ex VAT) aimed at offering a cost-effective alternative to (even more) expensive plasma displays. Marketed for use as a public display for venues such as airports and railway stations, the LCD3000 trumps CRT and plasma displays in that it uses no phosphor to display images and thus is not subject to static images being burned indelibly onto the screen. It also consumes 30 per cent less power than plasma screens of similar dimensions. ...more

Les Blogs 2.0: from A to Zipzapzop

Les Blogs 2.0 is probably the most 'zeitgeisty' conference of the year, combining the Web 2.0 buzz with the blogging phenomenum sweeping all before it. ...more

Nokia phones struck by Skulls virus

Finnish security company F-Secure says it has received reports of Nokia phone users being infected with the Skulls virus - an attack that replaces all of the icons for the operating system with images of skulls that, if clicked on, lead nowhere. Indeed the Skulls virus is a Trojan that will render the Symbian operating system, used on Nokia's high-end smartphones, useless. It is billed as a Trojan as it purports to be a theme manager for the Nokia 7610, and so might tempt victims into installing it believing they are giving their phone a new look. ...more

Oftel backs 3G development

Oftel is proposing that roaming regulations between Hutchison and Vodafone and O2 are replaced with those to cover all four UK telcos in order to promote 3G in the UK. When Hutchison launched its 3G service in March, Oftel imposed regulations to ensure that reasonable commercial agreements were made between the company and Vodafone and O2, to ensure Hutchison customers wouldn't be unfairly penalised when calling across networks. In the early days of 3, this will make up the majority of 2G voice calls from customers. ...more