Apple boosts recycling in the US

Apple has announced an expansion of its recycling programme for US customers by offering free take-back and recycling with the purchase of a Mac from June 2006. US customers who buy a new Mac direct from Apple will receive free shipping and 'environmentally friendly' disposal of their old computer as part of the Apple Recycling programme. Apple notes that equipment received will be recycled domestically with no hazardous material is shipped overseas. ...more

EU proposes new police powers to monitor all electronic communications

The European Union is proposing that phone companies, mobile companies and internet service providers must retain all information that they collect on anyone called or contacted by an EU citizen and the places where those comunications were made for a period of at least one year. The new proposals are being formulated because law enforcement agencies are worried that the rapid pace of technical innovation opens new opportunities for terrorists. The ever widening diversity of devices means that EU police forces say they are struggling to keep up. ...more

Demon and Virgin drop broadband set up fees till April

Demon Internet and Virgin.net are the latest ISPs to take advantage of temporary BT price cuts and waived their set up fees for broadband installation until March 31st. The move follows BT's decision in December to halve the broadband installation costs from ?50 to ?25 between January 10th and the end of March. ...more

Apple slashes monitor prices

Apple has slashed prices across its range of flat screen displays and added a 20in, 1680x1050 pixel model. The 23in Cinema HD Display is ?1300 cheaper at ?1699 (inc. VAT) while the 20in Cinema Display is just ?1099. ...more

Gartner predicts SCO will be forced to let lawyers call the shots

Gartner has predicted that the 20 per cent cut SCO is giving its lawyers will channel power into the legal firms' hands as they seek to make the most of the deal. SCO's recent announcement that it would deploy Boies, Schiller & Flexner to pull its targeted top 1,500 commercial Linux users through the courts will add to the pressure SCO faces in coming up with settlements with which to pay off its lawyers, according to George Weiss, of Gartner Research. He advises Linux users to 'keep a low profile', not to 'divulge details on Linux deployments' and not to 'permit SCO to audit your premises without legal authorisation. ...more