Spammers crush another antispam effort

An antispam company decided to close shop this week after its controversial techniques triggered a debilitating backlash from the spamming community. Blue Security's BlueFrog service responded to spam sent to its customers with an automatic opt-out reply. With some 450,000 customers, the volumes of opt-outs quickly flooded the servers of spamming groups everywhere, resulting in six of the 10 biggest groups agreeing to filter out spam sent to BlueFrog users entirely, according to SecurityFocus. ...more

Networks for Business 2003: Inclarity updates its broadband telephony

At the Networks for Business 2003 show in the Birmingham NEC, Inclarity has released Broadband Telephony 3.5. As its name suggests, this provides voice telephony over a broadband connection. ...more

Steve Jobs faces Disney destiny

Steve Jobs is poised to become the largest individual shareholder in Walt Disney if the company goes ahead with plans top buy Pixar Animation Studios. The Wall Street Journal claims (via MarketWatch) that Disney will pay slightly more than the $6.7bn that Pixar is currently worth. ...more

Careful with that broadband connection, Santa

Flashing Christmas tree lights may interfere with broadband connections, ADSL Guide has warned. The website cautions that flashing lights are prone to generating RF interference and says that if you experience problems with an ADSL connection the first thing you should do is turn off any lights to see if they are the cause. However, it notes that CE-marked lights should be okay; any interference is likely to come from 'grey market' lights that do not meet all European standards. ...more

Telematics to power Pay As You Drive insurance pilot

IBM and Orange are to work with Norwich Union on a 'Pay As You Drive' insurance programme. Under an intriguing new scheme, insurance premiums will be calculated on the basis of when, where and how often a car is used. The necessary data will be collected from onboard devices. ...more