The checked Czech 3G auction

Further ammunition for those who believe there has been massive over-bidding for 3G licences: the Czech government has now had to backtrack in its national auction. The Czech version of the now-notorious 3G bidding process was effectively boycotted by the leading Czech GSM operators last month, with the initial asking price deemed far too high for the size and maturity of the market. There were no takers for the first round of tender. ...more

VIRUS ALERT: Winur-D attacks the caring, sharing user

Sophos has issued a warning about Winur-D, a virus that tries to delete AV programs and spreads through file-sharing networks, such as Morpheus and KaZaA. The W32 worm targets users on BearShare, Morpheus, eDonkey2000, Gnucleus, KaZaA, KaZaA Lite and LimeWire peer-to-peer filesharing networks and also exploits the file-sharing capabilites of the ICQ instant messaging system. It copies itself to these programs' folders and sets registry entries to allow sharing through these networks. ...more

Lawyers claim Apple's iPod update is admission of volume problems

Lawyers representing iPod owners who are suing Apple for alleged damage to their hearing have said that the company's decision to enable volume limiting on the portable music players is an acknowledgement that they are flawed. 'It is good to know that Apple finally acknowledges that there is a serious flaw with its iPod product, and is giving US purchasers the same protection it has been giving French purchasers since 2002,' said attorney Steve Berman. 'Unfortunately, this patch doesn't help the millions of people who own older models - it is a jack-legged workaround that falls well short of what consumers demand and deserve. ...more

BT promises HD for all

BT's launch of BT Vision raised a few questions as to how the company, which now has content to its arsenal, is to position itself against Sky, which now offers Internet access. We caught up with Richard Griffiths, Director of Technology Strategy and Development at BT Vision, to talk us through how this battle of the behemoths is going to be fought, particularly when it comes to HD. Sky's HD ambitions are already well-known, but BT Vision has HD among its roll call of services. ...more

And also today (16-August-2001), for the record...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. Men flirt, women work According to a new survey, carried out by the marketing company edesigns.co. ...more