Dell recalls notebook batteries

PC manufacturer Dell has recalled 27,000 notebook computer batteries after one caught fire. Dell said it has only received one report of this happening and that no-one was hurt in the incident. The batteries involved are all made by Sanyo Electric and the fault isn't in the notebooks themselves. ...more

Virus plays fast and loose with online poker

A rootkit virus - one which is hidden from the very operating system of a computer - has been discovered in a program designed to help online poker players tot up monies owed them by casinos after games. Checkraised.com stopped distributing its Rakeback Calculator after it was discovered that versions of the software secretly installed components that gave the author remote access to login information for a variety of websites, including Partypoker, Empirepoker, Eurobetpoker and Pokernow. ...more

Telewest broadband undercuts dial-up

By a penny, for three months... ...more

Intel calls for end of the floppy

Intel is calling on PC manufacturers to finally do away with the floppy drive still common in the Windows world, according to a report on the Register. The Register claims to have seen "confidential Intel documents" which reveal that the leading chip manufacturer is hoping to see the floppy phased out in the second half of 2002 along with serial and PS/2 ports. Apple was ridiculed by the PC world when it decided, with the introduction of the first iMac in 1998, to dispense with what is known as legacy IO - the jumble of old input and output ports that included floppy drives, ADB (for mice and keyboards), SCSI and serial. ...more

Microsoft and the Mounties combine to track down child porn

A new software system aimed at tracking down paedophiles on the internet has been developed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with the help of Microsoft. The system, known as Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS) was developed following a personal plea to Bill Gates by Sergeant Paul Gillespie, a Canadian Police Detective in 2003. Following the plea by email, Gates ordered a Microsoft team to help out the Canadian law enforcement authorities to develop the customised program they needed. ...more