BT trials radio broadband

BT is to trial broadband over the air as part of its effort to bring broadband access to everyone by the end of 2005. 105 triallists from four regions (Ballingry in Fife, Scotland, Pwllheli in Wales, Porthleven in Cornwall and Campsie in Northern Ireland) will test the new technology in the pilot that will last until March of next year. Pierre Danon, chief executive, BT Retail, said: 'We want to make broadband services available to everyone in the UK - whether they live in town centres or rural communities should be irrelevant. ...more

IBM saves the planet from out of space objects

IBM is proudly proclaiming the role of one of its SP supercomputers, in the Maui High Performance Computing Centre, as helping the US Air Force identify stray objects in outer space, including those that may be hurtling earthwards. Maui is one of the Hawaiian islands and the computer is part of a $10 million contract awarded to IBM to upgrade the supercomputing facility. The machine - digitally enhancing images from ground-based telescopes - will enable the US to monitor the skies for craft launched by other countries, debris left in space by astronauts, and, no doubt, any other unidentified objects. ...more

AOL sticks its oar into Microsoft case

AOL is to intervene in the Microsoft anti-trust case, say sources. According to The New York Times, America's biggest ISP will file a "friend of the court" brief supporting the government in Microsoft's trial. Various briefs have been filed before against Microsoft, but only from trade associations such as the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). ...more

Kodak focuses in the dark

Kodak has launched a consumer digital camera with a new dual-sensor system that allows fast focus in low light conditions. The EasyShare DX6340 will cost ?249 inc VAT and Kodak claims the new technology 'allows focus lock in almost total darkness'. This is achieved using an external sensor that measures contrast and another TTL (through the lens) sensor that can quickly define the subject of the shot. ...more

IBM, Fujitsu set out to establish open APIs for autonomic computing

IBM and Fujitsu are undertaking joint research on so-called autonomic computing. The focus of the development is to clearly define a set of APIs for industry vendors in this developing area of enterprise computing. In order to gain wider industry support, the companies have declared that the results of their research will result in 'open standards' available to the whole of the IT industry. ...more