Media Center to be given new spin with Xbox 360 support

Microsoft is to release a free software update to Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to take advantage of the multimedia features built into the new Xbox 360, which has been showcased at the E3 gaming conference in Las Vegas. The new software will use the Xbox's Media Center Extender technologies to provide access to digital music, video, photos, and standard and high-definition television and movies The Media Center interface will be accessible simply by pressing a green button on the Xbox remote control. For example, players will be able to stream high-definition TV and movies already stored on Media Center PCs while they chat with friends remotely. ...more

Virgin.net slashes broadband startup costs

ISP Virgin.net has cut the cost of its Broadband service. From 1 May, the Virgin. ...more

24-03-2001 Essential news of the week

Brought neatly together and presented on a plate, here is a roundup of some of the week's main news stories from the world of IT. Microsoft's digital signature security compromised AMD tweaks Athlon but delays big change IE 6 improves privacy support The last of the Xeons Kodak snap new Palm camera Report condemns chat-room abuse Putting the user at the centre of "Hailstorm" EC sympathetic towards 3G licence debts 1GHz notebooks arrive Palm launches new handhelds Don't forget, we welcome your comments. Just click on a story and go for the 'Comments' link on the right-hand side of the screen. ...more

Authorities stamp out Russian hack site

A plot to infect thousands of computers around the world was foiled over the weekend when a Russian web site harbouring malicious code was shut down. Internet Explorer users who visited certain web sites were redirected to the hacker's web site in Russia. That site then attempted to infect the visiting machine with a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), which can be activated at will by an attacker and taken control of the computer. ...more

Dell shines CES light on new notebooks and screens

Dell's Mr Dell yesterday unveiled his company's latest innovations at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. New to Dell's product lines are a notebook launched in the US with an enormous 20.1in screen, capable of HDTV, and the 30in Dell Widescreen UltraSharp 3007WFP flat-panel LCD monitor. ...more