Ask Jeeves axes staff

The search engine with a twist, Ask Jeeves, has had to shed 180 staff in the US due to mounting losses. The site, which is led by a butler that guides you through the Net by answering naturally phrased questions, has reported losses of ?88m this year so far. The staff cut backs won't pull the company into profit, but are expected to save about ?30m a year. ...more

New Government initiative to help R&D

The Government has launched a new programme to help businesses and universities take advantage of a pot of 17 billion Euros provided by the European Union to help fund R&D within the Union. The Framework Programme, entitled in true EU fashion as FP6UK, is aimed to help British institutions to take advantage of the development fund that runs through to 2006 and is open to all kinds of organisations throughout the European Union. Interested parties can find details through the FP6UK website or by calling 0870 600 6080. ...more

'iTV' becomes Apple TV

Apple has announced that its 'iTV' wireless television interface will be released in February under its new name - Apple TV. Apple TV lets users wirelessly stream all their iTunes content to a TV set, controlling playback with an enhanced version of the company's Front Row software using the Apple Remote from up to 9m away. The box - which resembles a Mac mini - has a 40GB hard drive (of which around 33GB can be used for content) to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each. ...more

Haynes publishes Mac manual

Haynes, best known for its car manuals, has published a guide to maintaining and upgrading your Mac hardware and peripherals. The Mac Manual, written by MacUser technical editor Keith Martin, is broken down into easily followed chapters. It begins with an explanation of what is inside your Mac, and a table which shows what exactly you can upgrade in each model. ...more

Microsoft warns of 'critical' vulnerabilities in Media Player and Windows

Microsoft is planning to release details of a number of security vulnerabilities to its software tomorrow. The company is warning that at least two of the security alerts relating to Windows Media Player and Windows itself are regarded as 'Critical'. In its regular advance bulletin prior to the monthly 'patch Tuesday', Microsoft says that there will be a total of seven security alerts announced - one for Media Player, four for Windows, one for Windows/Office and one for Office alone. ...more