Yahoo! turbo charges Mail service

Internet portal Yahoo! has upgraded its popular Web-based mail service with, it claims, the most significant makeover of the service since it launched in 1997. According to Yahoo! the response times for the new version, which is currently in beta only, are equivalent to a desktop email program. Typically, web based mail services have had a few seconds delay while the browser communicates with the remote servers. ...more

Paypal texts itself to mobile phones

Paypal is to launch a new service making it possible to pay into Paypal accounts from a mobile phone. The service is available on the PayPal website. Users first have to activate their phone and have a PayPal account, and can then send money either with a simple SMS message detailing the amount and destination account, or by dialling a number and following automated instructions. ...more

New Gnome desktop boasts giant leap forward

The Gnome free desktop environment for Linux and Unix has been updated. As well as incorporating the Evolution email and workgroup client, version 2.8 has improved support for removable devices and networking and extra tools for sysadmins. ...more

Finns give music back to air guitarists

Students in Finland have written a computer program that can translate the hand and finger movements of an air guitarist into real music. The Virtual Air Guitar Project at the Helsinki University of Technology uses a video camera to track the movements of special gloves worn by the player. The three students, Aki Kanerva, Juha Laitinen and Teemu M?ki-Patola, created a library of guitar sounds based on the pentatonic minor scale commonly used for rock guitar solos. ...more

Pentium 4 in the slow lane?

The performance of Intel's forthcoming Pentium 4 processor might not justify its hefty price tag, according to analysts at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). While the chip manufacturer claims that the Pentium 4 is "the world's highest performance desktop microprocessor," it may be outmatched by its junior sibling, the Pentium III. Some analysts believe that the Pentium 4 could run up to 20 per cent slower than the Pentium III at an equivalent clock speed, and that while Intel insists that clock frequency isn't an accurate indicator of overall performance, the company will be relying on the higher frequencies of the Pentium 4 to lift its benchmark results above those of its predecessor. ...more