Oftel to slash BT's unmetered dial-up

Oftel has proposed a 17 per cent price cut to the FRIACO unmetered wholesale product it offers to ISPs. When BT first introduced FRIACO (Fixed Rate Internet Access Call Origination) to allow ISPs to offer unmetered dial-up access, it included in the wholesale costs charges for call routing and managing the extra traffic on the network. But by December 2001, BT had introduced network improvements that made these services unnecessary. ...more

Consumer Crimbo Net spending reaches $18.5bn

We all wisely nodded that the demise of Boo.com and other online clothing stores that succumbed to the dotcom bust up were easily foreseeable - nobody wants to buy clothes online as they can't try them on, right? Not according to the online Christmas eSpending Report from Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive, and Nielsen//NetRatings which notes online shops racked up a record $18.5bn in sales, predominantly on clothes. ...more

Sun takes DRM open source

Digital Rights Management may currently be the single most contentious issue amongst computer users and music and DVD buyers but that has not deterred Sun Microsystems from establishing an open source alternative to the closed systems employed by the likes of Apple and Microsoft. The Open Media Commons initiative has been set up to create a royalty-free copy protection technology that can be deployed across competing devices, platforms and media. Sun's COO Jonathan Schwartz argues that the current situation is restricting innovation and economic growth, something that a single standard could overcome but acknowledged that it will not be easy. ...more

BTLookSmart cracks open Wisenut

BTLooksmart is to incorporate the Wisenut search engine on its sites in the UK, starting with the BTOpenworld search facility. This follows a year's delay since Wisenut was bought by Looksmart Ltd. Like Yahoo, BTLooksmart is a search directory that is built on human-edited entries and is financed by paid-for listings. ...more

The PDA watch is three years late

Almost three years after it was first unveiled, the PDA watch has finally gone on sale in the UK, albeit in a somewhat improved form. The Abacus Wrist PDA runs the PalmOS accessed through a backlit 160x160 mono display with an interface that can be customised by the user. HotSync via InfraRed is supported for both Mac OS X and Windows. ...more