UPDATED: High-speed broadband for 2003

BT is to extend its high-speed SDSL broadband trial to include new services such as video-conferencing and teleworking. If successful, the trials will lead to a wider launch of SDSL products and services mid-2003. SDSL broadband provides faster up- and downstream speeds than current ADSL offerings. ...more

Apple pips Dell in US customer satisfaction survey

Satisfaction with Apple products is at an all-time high keeping the company at the top of an annual US survey of computer buyers. Apple's high rating of 81 helps it retain the top spot it grabbed from Dell last year in the PC section of the University of Michigan's Customer Satisfaction Index. It is Apple's highest rating since the survey began in 1994 and comes at a time when its compute shipments are higher than at any time in the previous five years. ...more

Skype invites third parties to call on its API

Skype is letting other companies get to grips with its Net telephony technology by publishing an API. The application programming interface (API) will allow third parties to develop products that hook into the Skype service. For example, an instant messaging or email program could access the service to add in Skype contacts and allow Skype user searches from within that program. ...more

UK games chart: Tiberium Wars command and conquer

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars has deposed Resistance: Fall of Man from the top of this week's ELSPA UK Games Chart. EA's real time strategy game - set in the Tiberium Universe, featuring the Brotherhood of Nod's attack on habitable Blue Zones - runs on the Xb360 and PC. You can find a demo of the game here. ...more

Fire closes BT lines to 130,000 Manchester homes and businesses

Internet connections Manchester have been interrupted this morning following a fire. In a statement, BT said, 'A fire in cable chambers running beneath the streets of central Manchester has caused extensive damage to (underground) cables and widespread disruption to phone services in Manchester and the surrounding area. 'The fire is affecting some 130,000 homes and businesses in the centre of the city. ...more