Every broadband vote counts, says BT boss

Internet users who don't have broadband capability at their local exchange can have it- providing they vote for it says BT. Under the scheme - which will start 1 July - BT Wholesale will log 'firm' consumer and business demand for fast Internet access in particular areas. To encourage demand, and open up the possibility of web users canvassing their neighbours to sign up for broadband, BT intends to publish the number of signups needed within an area before it will upgrade the exchange. ...more

New York Senator urges boycott of video game

A US senator has proposed a boycott of a new video game ahead of its launch this summer. The move is guaranteed to make the game, '25 to Life', a best seller and likely to revive the fortunes of its publisher Eidos, which has struggled to find another hit franchise after the Tomb Raider series. In the game, reports Reuters, the player can choose either to play the role of the gangster or the police and it is the former which has raised the hackles of Democrat Senator, Charles Schumer from New York. ...more

SiS to spin off graphics chip division soon, sources say

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) has decided to spin off its graphics chip division (multimedia product division) as a new subsidiary in May or June under the name of Tu Chiang Technology (transliterated from Chinese), according to sources. Tu Chiang would be Taiwan's first graphics chip design firm. Jackson Hu, head of the design support division and president of the new business development group of United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), reportedly will become chairman of SiS's new subsidiary. ...more

Compaq makes big noises

The Consumer Electronics Show saw Compaq moving into the crowded arena of audio equipment. The Compaq Music Centre sports a CD player, 20Gb hard drive and broadband Internet connectivity. The unit can be connected to a hi-fi and TV system and allows the user to download music from the Internet or rip audio from CDs. ...more

SanDisk shuts MP3 stand at IFA show over patent spat

SanDisk has been forced to shut down its stall at a Berlin consumer electronics fair by a court injunction granted to an Italian patent management company. Societa Italiana per lo Sviluppo Dell' Elettronica (Sisvel) persuaded a court in the German capital that SanDisk was in breach of patents on MP3 technology that it manages on behalf of the patents' owners: France Telecom, TDF, US Philips, Philips Electronics NV, Institut fur Rundfunktechnik and Bayerische Rundfunkwerbung. SanDisk declined to comment, but complied with the court ruling and removed its portable music players, including the recently unveiled e280, from the stall at IFA, leaving it distinctly bare. ...more