School success in auto-SMS of snow closures

After last week's snowfall, thousands of parents across the UK were alerted to school closures by text message or automated voice call, thanks to systems that link to school databases in real time. One such system, Call Parents, sent more than 60,000 text messages and automated phone calls to parents of students at more than 700 schools after wintry weather made travel difficult. Stephen Clarke, managing director of Call Parents, said: 'Our schools appreciate the need to have a system in place for emergency contact with parents, ideal for when snow is heavy and school closures are required. ...more

VeriSign branded monopoly by rivals

ICANN has been accused of setting up VeriSign as a monopoly in the domain-name registration business. Earlier this month, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) ruled that VeriSign would have to give up control of the .org and . ...more

Businesses 'wasting money on Wi-Fi hotspots'

Businesses are wasting thousands of pounds on Wi-Fi hotspot fees because they don't use the minutes they pay for. A survey conducted for hotspot provider Trustive found that most Wi-Fi users pay for ad-hoc access, such as scratch cards and vouchers that are sold in hour blocks. However, the average surfing session clocks in at 30 minutes or less, meaning business users are often paying for far more than they need. ...more

Samsung invests for Flash memory lead

Samsung is to invest $614.2m in the production of Flash memory and DRAM chips. The worlds largest memory chip maker said that the investment would help is stay ahead of competitors and the new production lines will begin operating in the second half of 2006. ...more

Yahoo changes its model

When the Internet first grew in popularity, a business model existed where revenue could be generated using advertising banners and "click-thrus". But the businesses using the World Wide Web are starting to change tack and looking to find a way of making you pay. It's no surprise really that the business model has changed, the previous one was built on sand and the number of dot. ...more