Apple could see green light for European iPhone trademark

A matter of hours could separate whether Cisco or Apple can claim the iPhone trademark in Europe. A trademark expert at UK law firm Pinsent Masons said that a German company filed a revocation application for Cisco's iPhone trademark on the same day that the networking company finally announced a product under the iPhone name. Lee Curtis said that under European law, trademarks that have been unused for a period of five years or more can be revoked when such a request is filed. ...more

Virgin doubles cable broadband to 20Mbit

Virgin Media, the newly rebranded cable operator, has confirmed that it will double its top-tier cable broadband service to 20Mbit from its current 10Mbit limit. The upgrade, which will be completed network-wide by June this year assuming no capacity or infrastructure problems are encountered, will catapult the company's broadband offering ahead of the various ADSL-based rival services on offer. At best, users can expect service up to 16Mbit over standard ADSL connections at present. ...more

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds demo released

LucasArts has released a 70Mb demo of its real-time strategy game, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. Based on the Age Of Empires engine, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds will allow gamers to take control of such factions as the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire and play through campaigns as they attempt to determine the final outcome of the Galactic Civil War. In keeping with its theme, the action in Galactic Battlegrounds will not only take place over land and in the air but also in submerged cities and even on interstellar asteroids! Controllable units will include Bounty Hunters, Jedi Knights, Stormtroopers, AT-ATs and more. ...more

Thunderbird 0.7 takes flight

The Mozilla Organisation has released the latest version of its standalone email sofware. As reported yesterday, Thunderbird 0.7 includes performance improvements on all platforms, though pre-binding support gives an extra boost in Mac OS X, multiple identities, improved IMAP support, an extensions Manager and improved junk mail handling. ...more

Laptop display prices in decline

The price of flat panel displays used in laptops is falling and will continue to do so, according to new figures. While notebook sales rallied earlier this year, the price of displays rose sharply, and in May this year were around 55 per cent up on September 2001's low. This added between $90 and $110 to the cost of manufacturing a laptop. ...more