Computer makers put Vodafone in the box

Vodafone-configured equipment to ease GPRS connection for IT departments Vodafone has signed global deals with a number of leading computer manufacturers to the 'Connected by Vodafone' initiative. Devices such as notebooks, tablet PCs and PDAs will come with an out-of-the-box Vodafone connection to GPRS services. Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Toshiba have all agreed to 'Connected by Vodafone'. ...more

Questions raised over TV licence for Net-casts

Computer users who take advantage of the BBC's World Cup streams are liable for a stiff penalty if they do not have a valid TV licence. The TV Licensing authority warned businesses that allow employees to keep up-to-date with games via the Internet must ensure that they have a licence or face fines of up to ?1,000. Only one licence is required to cover all broadcasts to a single property, so the paid-up have nothing to fear. ...more

Microsoft takes on eight more spammers

Microsoft has targeted eight more spammers with lawsuits. Although none of the companies has been named, one is listed on the Register of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO). Redmond says that those involved have between them sent hundreds of millions of pieces of email offering everything from what it calls `body enlargement pills`, prescription drugs, dating services and university degree programs, work-at-home and various get-rich-quick scheme offers The company says it has also filed another lawsuit against Securesoft. ...more

BT Wireless gets its first chairman

BT has appointed the first chairman of its to-be-demerged BT Wireless division. David Varney will become Chairman-designate before the end of June and will join Peter Erskine, the CEO of BT Wireless. Both men will have to work on the details of the demerger of BT Wireless from BT Group. ...more

Bill Gates world's number one target of spam

Bill Gates gets 4 million emails a day according to Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer. `There are two people who probably are the number one spam recipients in the world,` Ballmer said at a Microsoft event in Singapore `Bill Gates because he is Bill Gates. Bill literally receives four million pieces of e-mail per day, most of it spam. ...more