MPs condemn Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft

MPs have condemned Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft for collaborating with the Chinese authorities to censor the Internet. The House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee said that 'the collaboration of Western Internet companies in the censorship and policing of the Internet for political purposes is morally unacceptable', following a six-month enquiry into East Asia. The committee devoted a large part of its 150-page report to human rights. ...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

Inside Prescott

Intel has added 13 extra chip instructions, bringing the SSE (streaming SIMD extensions) version up to 3 Although it's still a Pentium 4 processor, Intel has added 13 extra chip instructions, bringing the SSE (streaming SIMD extensions) version up to 3. Most significant, though, is that the previous core, codenamed Northwood, was manufactured using a 130-nanometre process, whereas Prescott uses a new 90-nanometre technique. The result is lower power consumption at a given speed, allowing the core to be clocked to higher frequencies. ...more

BT looks into the future

BT's boffins have been staring into their crystal balls and have come up with some predictions for what the world of technology holds in the next 50 years. The timeline claims to cover every area of modern life influenced by technology. Among the subjects covered are Artificial Intelligence; Health and Medical; Business and Education; Demographics; Energy; Robotics; Space; Telecommunications; Transport and Travel. ...more

Symantec granted patent for detection of mutating viruses

Security company Symantec says it has developed a new weapon in the battle against viruses, Trojans and worms. It has been granted a patent in the US for what it is terming 'data detection of viruses' in order to combat the increasing sophistication of modern malware. Ever since the first viruses appeared, detection has always depended on 'signatures' - unique sections of code which antivirus scanners look for. ...more