Search engines go POP

The UK is getting a rival to WAP email from the US. Ivolio, a US-based wireless application provider, will release its HALiBOT platform in the UK in the first half of 2001. HALiBOT is a keyword-based search engine based on standard email protocols. ...more

GiftCom worm emerges as festive threat

Instant messaging security company IMLogic has warned of a festive threat affecting users of AIM, ICQ, MSN, Windows Messenger and Yahoo! IM services. The IM.GiftCom. ...more

Orange wants price guarantee

As bidders drop like flies from the last European UMTS auction, that of France, the two remaining bidders want a guarantee from the French government that any further licences granted at future tenders will be at the same price. France Telecom's Orange and Vodafone- and Vivendi-backed SFR are the only interested parties left to the four licences available, after Bouygues dropped out following Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux's departure. The French government has confirmed that the two remaining licences would be tendered at a later date, but has not said when. ...more

Worm disguised as iTunes threatens music fans

A new variant of the Opanki worm has emerged that targets music fans by claiming to be Apple's iTunes program. Security company Trend Micro, which issued the alert points out that 'users may be tricked into thinking that this worm is associated with a legitimate product'. The message arrives as an instant messenger chat file with the heading, 'this picture never gets old' and a link to a file called itunes. ...more

Sun's StarOffice goes Open Source

The impetus for making proprietary code-bases Open Source has not died out. Sun claims that it has made the single largest Open Source code contribution to date. Sun's StarOffice desktop environment - word processor, database, email, scheduling, web publishing, etc - will be made available on the site www. ...more