John Lister

It appears Apple will sell an unlocked edition of the iPhone in Italy, which raises the question of whether the company will adopt a similar policy elsewhere in the world. An unlocked phone is one that will work with any telephone carrier. So far, ... Apple has always sold the phone in a locked state. For example, in the United States it only works on the AT ... (view more)

The Federal Communications Commission has begun hearings into net neutrality, the concept that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, without representatives of the major Internet and telephone companies. Comcast, AT ... (view more)

Microsoft is experimenting with the idea of renting its software rather than only having it available to buy out-right. The scheme, codenamed Albany, would allow US users to pay a monthly subscription for a package of software which would likely ... comprise Word, Excel, PowerPoint and anti-virus software. Users in some developing countries can already rent Office, and Microsoft's OneCare security package is already available for annual subscription in America. However, this would be the first time Office could be rented in a major market like the US. The company believes the biggest selling ... (view more)

The leading manufacturer of software using the open source Linux system says it's still too tricky to produce a serious competitor to the Windows operating system that is suitable for the average PC user. Linux is an operating system based on open ... source code; that means it's free to use, distribute and alter it. Indeed, many computer developers find ways to improve it and then share those improvements. Think of it like the Wikipedia of programming. The system is popular for running servers, the large machines at the heart of computer networks. That's because it's generally seen as more ... (view more)

Nintendo has been credited in the last year for making video game players more active by playing their Wii console. The results have been impressive, at least, compared to the traditional play mechanics of the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. However, ... Nintendo's latest product is a genuine fat-buster. Wii Fit is a gym 'simulator' game though the exercise is entirely genuine. Players use a special balance board which tracks the movement and weight, then converts it into a movements for an onscreen character. The game includes more than 40 activities based around strength training, aerobics, balance ... (view more)

It's usually Linux users who get most passionate about their operating system, followed by Mac advocates. However, Microsoft's plans to axe the Windows XP seem to have uncovered some serious devotees. A petition started by tech journalist Galen ... Gruman now has more than 100,000 signatures from people urging Microsoft to keep the system available beyond the planned withdrawal. As things stand, XP will continue to be available to buy separately (both in physical and download version) until the end of June. Hardware manufacturers can sell machines with XP until the end of the year. While XP has ... (view more)

People who want Mac technology without paying Apple prices finally have the machine of their dreams, at least until the lawyers have their way. A company named Psystar is offering a machine named OpenMac for just $399 which, to all intents and ... purposes, could run just like a real Apple Macintosh computer. The legality is questionable at best and the Psystar site disappeared a few hours after news of the offer broke, with many speculating that lawyers had become involved -- though the site later returned. (Source: news.com ) While Microsoft Windows can run on any PC, Apple's Leopard only works ... (view more)

The man who hoped to mastermind the transfer of the World Wide Web onto mobile telephones has abandoned his project and revealed that 80% of traffic on his system was pornography. Russell Beattie, who launched 'Mowser' (as in mobile-browser) last ... year, says he now realises there simply isn't any serious demand for a 'mobile-specific web' outside of the Far East. The idea of Mowser was to provide versions of ordinary web pages specifically designed for cell phone displays. Users could simply type in the address of the site they wanted to see and Mowser would automatically 'translate' it into a ... (view more)

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is reportedly poised to join Microsoft in its bid to takeover Yahoo. The talks between News Corporation and Microsoft are hush-hush, but insiders say an eventual deal might see Murdoch chip in some cash for the ... takeover and hand over his Interactive Media division, which owns MySpace. That could mean MySpace, the MSN network, and the Yahoo search engine would all be owned by the same group. Yahoo had already been talking with News Corporation themselves, but only in the hope of forming a partnership. They are trying to avoid the type of complete takeover ... (view more)

Two influential analysts have caused a media storm by claiming Microsoft Windows is in danger of collapsing. The claim came from Michael Silver and Neil McDonald, both vice presidents at Gartner, a prominent and profitable consulting firm. The VPs ... cited the increasing complexity of the Windows system, including Vista's 50 million lines of code. Such complexity has made release dates unpredictable and leaves many potential buyers sticking with older versions longer than Microsoft had budgeted. (Source: macdailynews.com ) This causes other problems; it takes too long for technical support ... (view more)