Comment: The promise of FON

We've grown accustomed to getting everything for free on the internet, but one aspect of the Web has proved a consistent and acceptable cost - the price of access. Say what you want about the nuisance of switching ISPs, or the lack of availability in some areas, but for the lucky majority broadband is incredible value. And people are happy to pay for it. ...more

Sober virus set to continue reign

Antivirus vendors have totted up the figures for December, with some showing nearly four in five reports accountable to the Sober worms. Sophos put the Sober-Z worm at number one for the month, claiming 78.9 per cent of reports. ...more

Game on with the brain-controlled PC

RAM-manufacturer OCZ has unveiled a new control device that interprets your brain waves and small facial muscle movements as controls for a game character. We tried it out at Computex 2007, with more than a little Lawnmower Man-based trepidation. The device takes the form of a headband with three electrode plates pressed to your forehead. ...more

Can Deep Fritz 7 emulate Deep Blue

Four years ago the chess world was shocked when Deep Blue, an IBM RS/6000-based parallel computer, beat the then world champion Garry Kasparov. Now Deep Blue's successor, Deep Fritz 7, is to challenge Kasparov's successor, Vladimir Kramnik, in what has become known as the Brains in Bahrain. Kramnik took Kasparov's unofficial though widely recognised world title in November 2000 but Deep Fritz 7 will be a different proposition, capable of analysing over six million moves per second and already victorious over Deep Blue, Kasparov and official world champion Vishwanathan Anand. ...more

Adobe updates Postscript 3 for printers

Adobe has released a new version of Postscript 3 for hardware manufacturers to build into printers. Version 3017 supports the direct printing of Adobe PDF 1.6, the latest version of PDF introduced in Acrobat 7. ...more