Ofcom does away with Oftel

Culture Secretary Chris Smith has announced a White Paper in the House of Commons today shaking up media and telecommunications regulations. Under the government proposals, bodies such as telecoms regulator Oftel, the Independent Television Commission, the Radio Authority and the Broadcasting Standards Council would be rolled into one catch-all regulator, probably called Ofcom. The move will no doubt please ISPs, who have been complaining about Oftel's lack of power to regulate BT for some time. ...more

Apache shores up flagship server

Apache has fixed up its Web server with the latest 2.0.52 release. ...more

Red Alert over rampant Internet worm

Internet may collapse, warns security organisations and US government. A fast-moving, mutating Internet worm is threatening to render the Net useless within the next two to three days. A joint warning has been sent out by Microsoft, CERT, SANS, ISS and the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), warning that immediate action must be taken by systems administrators. ...more

UK commercial radio to add music clips to podcasts

UK commercial radio stations have struck a deal with the country's music licensing authority that will allow them to include music in their podcasts. Under the terms of the deal, Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), which licenses recorded music on behalf of over 3,500 record companies and 40,000 performers, will permit members of RadioCentre, a body representing 324 commercial radio broadcasters, to include up to 30 seconds of music per track, excluding voiceovers, in downloads of their radio programmes under a collective licence. Stations are expected to begin including music clips in their podcasts within the next few weeks. ...more

PC Pro Award winners 2006

The annual PC Pro Service and Reliability Awards were held in London last night, and we can now reveal the winners of the IT industry's most prestigious gongs. With more than 16,000 people giving feedback on everything from their notebook to their web host, the PC Pro Awards give an unmatched insight into the level of customer service UK technology buyers receive. In all 12 categories of the Reliability and Service awards, we delve into our readers' experiences to reveal the winners, so that you have 16,000 people to call on when you're next buying a piece of hardware or software. ...more