Smartphones hit by Trojan virus

Symbian-based phones including Nokias using the Series 60 platform are again the target of a new mobile phone virus that will stop the phone dead if it is rebooted. According to Finnish security experts F-Secure, the Trojan virus Fontal-A - a variant of the Comwarrior virus - has no propagation mechanics but may be manually received from file-sharing networks or via memory cards in an infected file called Kill Saddam By OID500.sis. ...more

Samsung touts dual-format next generation DVD player

While the Japanese consumer electronics giants slug it out to establish their products as the winner in the high definition DVD war, the South Korean manufacturer Samsung has come up with its own solution - it will make a dual format player. Sony, the sponsor of the Blu-Ray format, and Toshiba, with its HD-DVD solution, have been lining up manufacturers and movie studios on their sides in order to gain a critical mass large enough to convince consumers to buy their format. Earlier this year, with billions at stake, attempts to forge a unified format between the two opposing camps broke down. ...more

A low-down on... Monitors

Everyone's busy upgrading hard disks, processors and the like, but the part of your PC that often gets overlooked in the upgrade cycle, and the part you spend the most time in contact with, is your monitor. A badly set up or positioned monitor can give you headaches and muscular strains, making it well worth ensuring you're getting the optimal performance from it. But for many people, a monitor is a closed box - something that comes with your PC, you simply plug in and it just, well, works. ...more

AMD fails to win EC access to Intel documents

AMD has failed in it's latest attempt to force Intel to hand over documents to European Commissioners. A US Federal judge refused AMD's request because, the European Commissioners had not actually asked for the documents. The ruling follows a long running dispute between AMD and Intel which ended this summer in the Supreme Court. ...more

Christmas shoppers stay indoors and online

Shopping is cheaper and warmer from PC In our recent poll on this site, 86 per cent of users said they would be doing their shopping online. Avoiding the traffic, winter weather, parking difficulties and other Christmas shoppers were all pointed out by our readers as reasons to avoud the high street. Better prices and the warmth and convenience of shopping from your home PC are all reasons most of us will be plugging in to the Internet to shop this Christmas. ...more