Dell adds flash drive option for ultra-portables

Dell has begun offering a flash memory, solid state drive (SSD) as an alternative to a hard drive (HDD) in two of its ultra-portable laptop models, the Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged. The company is one the first to offer a flash-based drive as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDD) on corporate notebooks. A SSD is a hard drive alternative based on flash memory. ...more

PlusNet offers refunds for network slowdown

PlusNet is offering certain Broadband Plus customers a refund on their February subscription charge if they can provide evidence of problems with their service's performance. In an email to customers, the ISP acknowledged that a readjustment to the amount peak time network capacity resulted in slower than acceptable speeds. It explained that Broadband Plus pays for approximately an 18 per cent share of its network at peak times, but during December and January it was taking around 15 per cent, which was affecting Premier and PAYG customers. ...more

A domain name for professionals begins its sunrise period

Doctors and lawyers and accountants take note: a domain name for professionals begins its life. 'The Internet for Professionals' is the slogan of RegistryPro, the registrar that manages the new .Pro domain (note the uppercase 'P'). ...more

Nokia, Oracle and IBM line up against Microsoft

A coalition of IT giants has renewed support for EU's antitrust battle with Microsoft, reports Reuters. The European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) has asked the EU court in which Microsoft's appeal is being heard that it be allowed to support the European Commission's (EC) case. ECIS is backed by Nokia, Oracle and IBM, as well as Red Hat and RealNetworks. ...more

Chiltern Railways texts tickets

Chiltern Railways is poised to become the first UK train operator to send digital rail tickets to mobile phones. The mobile ticketing technology sends a bar code to the passenger's mobile phone via SMS. The bar code is then scanned at the ticket gates. ...more