May 26th, 2006 - There’s no denying that Microsoft has both audacity and folly in equal measure, and never was this more clearly exemplified than in the news that it is launching an ‘industry leading compression quality’ image format. Revealed in some detail at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference... (Read More)

May 23rd, 2006 - Inventor of the Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has been speaking out in favour of Net Neutrality at the 15th World Wide Web conference in Edinburgh, Scotland this week. For once, my spin on the issue doesn’t matter. What the man who created the Web thinks does, so I’ll leave the rest of this brief... (Read More)

May 23rd, 2006 - Bill Gates today announced at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2006 the immediate availability of Beta 2 versions of the three Microsoft flagship products. This is the first time that Microsoft has released such a trio simultaneously. “The release of these three betas is a... (Read More)

May 23rd, 2006 - Having built an online empire around keeping the advertising simple and unobtrusive, Google is about to enter the video advert business. The announcement follows the AOL acquisition of video search engine Truveo in January and video ad sales specialist Lightningcast last week, which will merge... (Read More)

May 20th, 2006 - Although Vista isn’t expected to go on sale until next year, Microsoft has thoughtfully announced the minimum requirements for the new OS so you’ll have plenty of time to save for the necessary upgrades. Just to muddy the waters and confuse the public, Microsoft seems to be adopting an Xbox 360... (Read More)

May 18th, 2006 - In 2002, IBM scientists managed to produce a magnetic data tape capable of a storage density of 1 billion bits per square inch. This week the IBM Almaden Research Center boffins have done it again, in conjunction with Fuji, to the tune of 6.67 billion bits per square inch. That figure I confidently... (Read More)

May 18th, 2006 - Micron Technology, Inc., has unveiled a prototype of the World’s first 8-megapixel CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor using a miniature 1.75 micron pixel design in a 1/2.5 inch optical format. As well as being small enough to bring 3-megapixel performance to your camera... (Read More)

May 18th, 2006 - Remember this week, for it was the week that we lost the fight against spam. On May 5th I reported how militant spammer PharmaMaster had brought down the Blue Frog anti-spam vigilante service. I wondered then if it was the end of the toad for Blue Security, and sadly this has proven to be the... (Read More)

May 16th, 2006 - This week Adobe released the Spry toolkit that finally allows web designers to join the, until now, programmer led world of Ajax development. At the same time, Backbase introduced an Ajax development tool for Java applications. But what use is an Ajax powered website when search engines such as... (Read More)

May 14th, 2006 - Sony used to have game. Its hold on the console market anything but inscrutable, being down to a long standing dedication to technical innovation, game play and pricing. But could that all be due to change following the debut of the PlayStation 3, dubbed PayStation, at E3 last week? Not only does... (Read More)

May 14th, 2006 - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has voted against giving a green light for a proposed Internet red light domain. After a 5 year struggle to segregate online porn, the ICM Registry .xxx domain proposal was finally outvoted 9 to 5. This could be regarded as just... (Read More)

May 11th, 2006 - The news that Jeffrey Toback, a representative in the Nassau County Legislature, has filed a 16 page complaint alleging Google profits from child pornography has ignited discussion of censorship, responsibility and technology. Yet I can’t help thinking that everyone is missing the real point: why... (Read More)

May 8th, 2006 - “I believe the 2.6 kernel is slowly getting buggier� said the rather respectable looking man with short hair, spectacles and absolutely no beard whatsoever. What on earth could Andrew Morton know about Linux then? Quite a lot as it happens. Morton is the ‘lead maintainer’ of the Linux production... (Read More)

May 8th, 2006 - Here’s a question for you: being a clued up Internet user which browser client do you favour when it comes to being totally safe and secure on the web? The answer I know you are shouting loudly at the screen is ‘Firefox you freakin’ idiot’. But at the risk of being shot down in flames, literally, I... (Read More)

May 7th, 2006 - With the failure of the amendment to the US Telecommunications Reform bill, itself a much diluted version of earlier amendments, it would seem that Net Neutrality is a dead legislative duck as far as Congress is concerned. But what is Net Neutrality, and why should anyone care? The Internet is... (Read More)

May 5th, 2006 - Just when you thought the spam problem couldn’t get any worse, comes the news that spammers are fighting back against the pro-active anti-spam community approach using tit-for-tat Denial of Service attacks and intimidation. The Blue Frog anti-spam approach is a relatively simple one of ‘hit... (Read More)

May 3rd, 2006 - In an astonishing display of pique, Google (the new Microsoft) has complained bitterly to both the US DoJ and the European Commission about Microsoft (the old Google). What exactly has the Boy God Gates done to annoy billionaire double act Brin and Page so? At the risk of reading like a Monty... (Read More)

May 2nd, 2006 - Belkin has announced the launch of their N1 range of next generation wireless routers based upon a new WiFi standard that could extend the range of existing ‘wireless-G’ solutions by a factor of 4, and speeds by as much as 12. This might bring out the excited little geek in me, were it not for the... (Read More)