Freeserve deals connection and content bundle

Premium content and broadband connection for ?27.99 a month Freeserve has chopped ?2 off the price of its broadband rate and bundled in premium content for free. From today, customers get 150 free text messages, 20 photo prints from its digital photography service and two month's membership of its music download service for free - goodies that Freeserve reckons to be worth ?25. ...more

EU sets up cyber crime unit

The EU has agreed to assemble a European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) to provide a co-ordinated front against security threats to Europe's online infrastructure. Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society said of the decision: 'I'm very pleased that both Parliament and Member States have seen the urgency to get this agency in place and have been able to reach an agreement on the first reading of the proposal. All parties involved in the issues of network and information security have been advocating closer co-operation and the ENISA delivers the infrastructure for this. ...more

Sony debuts on the digital SLR stage

Sony has been showing off its Alpha range digital SLR camera to the UK press this afternoon. The Alpha 100 is Sony's first venture into high-end digital photography, but the Japanese giant declares it intends to be battling for market leadership - against the established Canon and Nikon - by 2008. Sony is building on the expertise and technology it acquired from Konica Minolta, which exited the market back in January. ...more

Apple pours Starbucks music into iTunes

Apple is to begin selling music from coffee purveyor Starbucks' Hear Music catalogue through the US version of the iTunes Store. The Starbucks Entertainment area within iTunes will feature a variety of playlists including music hand-picked by the same Starbucks Hear Music content team responsible for selecting the music played in the company's coffee shops. Content will include digital versions of many of Hear Music's CD series and co-releases such as the Marvin Gaye Opus Collection. ...more

BT to scrap consumer ISDN

BT has announced that it will withdraw consumer ISDN services later this year, broadband having killed off what was once a cutting-edge technology for Internet access. The telco stopped selling its Home Highway ISDN (integrated services digital network) product in February and existing users will now have just a few months to switch to a faster ADSL broadband connection. Typically ISDN was used where broadband services were not available, though improvements over the past few years to the UK broadband footprint have gradually negated its role. ...more