Phone giants agree enhanced SMS standard

Four of the big mobile telecommunications companies in Europe announced yesterday that they would work together to implement EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service). Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens are the companies involved and they will work together to ensure interoperability between their products and guide the evolution of the EMS standard. EMS will allow users to add images, music and animations to their SMS messages. ...more

China celebrates New Year with SMS fireworks

The Chinese have celebrated the Lunar New Year - which officially began on 9 February - in mobile phone fashion. More than one billion text messages were sent on Tuesday's Lunar New Year's Eve alone, reports ChannelNewsAsia. Traditionally, people would go door-to-door to wish family and friends good fortune for the coming year, but technology is increasingly taking the strain. ...more

Steve Jobs hints at 'media centre' device

Steve Jobs has given the biggest hint yet that Apple will introduce a 'media centre' device. At Apple's AGM yesterday, a shareholder questioned the company's CEO about Microsoft's Media Center software. 'We hear you loud and clear,' Jobs is reported to have replied. ...more

Court battles don't stop Streamcast releasing Morpheus 4

Even as Streamcast fights to uphold a lower court ruling that it is not liable for the actions of users of its file-swapping software, it has released a new version that hooks its users into the networks of other peer-to-peer platforms such as KaZaA. Morpheus 4 gives its users access to the networks of Kazaa, iMESH, eDonkey, Overnet, Grokster, LimeWire, Gnutella, G2 and others, in addition to files on its own network. It also offers free voice chat (VOIP). ...more

Intel expected to slash Pentium 4 prices over weekend

Desktop Pentium 4 prices are expected to be cut this weekend, according to Taiwanese sources. The changes will range from 15.5 to 34. ...more