Finland picks up 3G challenge, but not literally

When is a 3G rollout not a 3G rollout? How about when the "network" is in place, but there are no handsets available to use it. This is the scenario faced by Finland, the first country to award 3G licences to mobile phone operators. The main Finnish telco, Sonera, intends - the BBC reports - to switch on its 3G service on the 1 January 2002, regardless of the absence of handsets to actually use it. ...more

Revamped Power Mac G4s support OS9

Amid all the excitement - if that's the right word - surrounding last week's unveiling of the new Power Mac G5, changes to the Power Mac G4 line-up have gone unnoticed. Apple has pared the range down from four to three machines and made all the machines capable of booting into both Mac OS 9 and X. It has also changed certain aspects of the spec, dropping both FireWire 800 and the SuperDrive options. ...more

Apple on-track for spring Leopard launch - analyst

American Technology Research Analyst Shaw Wu has added his voice to those who believe that Apple remains on course to meet its Spring date for the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Wu told investors that recent reports that Leopard may be delayed, possibly until October, are 'overdone'. ...more

Twentieth Century Fox lines up movie and TV downloads

Twentieth Century Fox has announced that it will begin selling movie and television show downloads in the US through its parent company's digital arm, Fox Interactive Media (FIM). IGN Entertainment will be the first FIM subsidiary to offer a selection of download-to-own content, already having an online distribution model for selling PC games (Direct2Drive), complete with the obligatory DRM. However the downloads service can be expected to take off when it appears, at an as yet unspecified date, on that other FIM site, MySpace. ...more

3G is ready for the rest of us, says NEC

NEC is to ramp up production of 3G handsets for extra-Japan territories to more than a million a month. 'We fully expect 3G to really take off,' a spokesperson for the company told us. The move involves outsourcing volume production to a company called Solectron, which will pump out the phones from its facility in Suzhou, China. ...more