Barrett: Chips with everything
Rupert Goodwins' IDF Diary What do you do when Microsoft 'fixes' its Web site so that your browser will not correctly render it? Well, Swedish software firm Opera turned to a famous son on the Muppet show for inspiration. You'd have thought Microsoft might have learnt a lesson from the bad publicity after it first decided to stop users of non-Microsoft browsers surfing MSN a year and a half ago.
Opera 'borks' MSN in standards spat One of the most notorious scams operating on the Internet has been blamed for the death of a Nigerian diplomat in the Czech Republic. Our mail boxes at ZDNet UK are jammed with such missives daily, and our colleagues over at silicon.com recently baited one of the scammers (see story here), which led us to think of a solution: what if we all started replying to these scam emails -- could we simply bury the fraudsters in return spam?
Fatal shooting linked to Nigerian email fraud Microsoft is aiming to rope in a new generation of networked teens. Its plans for teen-oriented groupware have drawn delirious praise from US journalists, and some of the technology looks groundbreaking. It is also, of course, fitted with industrial-strength digital rights management technology, so that, for example, you're free to play tunes for your pals over the network, as long as you take your music home with you at the end of the evening.
Microsoft to launch peer-to-peer software Your starter for 10. Is the prospect of a further drop in mobile phone prices good news, or bad? Motorola has predicted that average handset prices will fall by an average of around £3, and some analysts fear this is a further blow to the already ravaged mobile industry. But a new level of "low-end phones" must be good for consumers, right?
Motorola predicts cheaper handsets Great news for anyone who lives too far from their local exchange to get broadband. BT is quietly working on a plan to extend the range over which ADSL will work, albeit at a slower speed.
BT explores slower ADSL in search for long-range broadband Potentially bad news for anyone who uses BT for anything. The Communications Workers Union has hit the roof over the suggestion that BT might move its directory enquiries operations to India. Industrial action is being threatened. It won't be the end of tech outsourcing, though.
Strike fears over BT outsourcing plan
More IT firms look overseas to cut costs
Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.
