Author: Gary Cutlack
Bill Gates flexes his acting skills with Jerry Seinfeld, as Microsoft kicks off $300m Windows ad campaign
It is an advert about nothing. This clip made its debut on US television last night, bewildering viewers by showing Jerry Seinfeld and Mr Gates trying on shoes in a discount shoe shop. Then buying some shoes. Then leaving.
But it’s not an advert for shoes. Neither man has fallen that far since quitting the things that made them rich and famous. See if you can guess what it’s for.
Of course you know what it’s about and for – Windows. Microsoft’s bunging $300m into a new marketing campaign, designed…
EU helping reduce your Vodafone direct debit – proposes capping roaming SMS and data fees
The EU is once again aiming its twin bureaucracy cannons at the mobile industry, this time planning a crackdown on roaming fees charged when users TXT THER M8s from holiday.
The EU, lead by a rampaging Viviane Reding, has already signalled its intentions to attack rip-off roaming fees, but now we have facts – a cap of 11 euro cents (8p) per roaming text is proposed, a 62% reduction on the current average roaming fee of 29 cents…
Half of teachers think the internet's useful, half don't, and 20% don't understand it at all
That long-winded headline is the summary of a survery carried out by LM Research, which interviewed 1,500 teachers, parents and students about how the internet is changing the classroom.
Half of teachers think that internet tools like Wikipedia are good, but half think they’re of no educational use and simply distract the youth of today…
Spore has been hacked, cracked and dumped on Bittorrent for world to have for free
It was inevitable. The only question was "How long will it would take?" Before release? Hours after? In the case of Spore, the hot new life/universe/everything simulator from The Sims creator Will Wright, the answer to that question is "24…
EMI adding over 400,000 new tunes to We7's free streaming library
We7, the free-to-use ad-funded music site that’s famously the brainchild of musical wildcard Peter Gabriel will, finally, soon feature the Peter Gabriel back catalogue in its listings.
This is thanks to music goliath EMI announcing a deal to stick 400,000 of its songs up on the streaming service before the end of the year, a move which will significantly boost the amount of content on the rapidly-growing free music site. Sony BMG…
Raygun testing begins – 100kW electro-laser nearly ready for battlefield use
Military developer Northrop Grumman has a dream. A dream to create proper rayguns. A dream we would happily fund by paying extra tax and posting it off to the American government should it be able to pull it off.
But that’s not necessary – it has already done it. Northrop will soon start testing a 100 kilowatt model of its Joint High Power Solid State Laser, which chains together eight smaller 15kW models. It has already successfully tested a chain of two…
Whoever owns the Commodore brand is getting in on the Netbook scene, with the UMMD 8010/F
Honestly, my dad’s got a Netbook coming out this Autumn. He’s pitching it against my mum’s, which is simply a lower-spec version of the one my sister put out last year.
The point is, everyone’s releasing bloody mega-portable Eee PC-alikes these days – even companies we all thought had long since stopped existing. Like Commodore here, with its all-new UMMD 8010/F, a netbook featuring pretty much what we’ve come to expect from one of these new wave mini laptops. Brace yourselves, the technical specifications paragraph is coming up next…
Band X (The Smashing Pumpkins) releasing new single G.L.O.W. in video game Y (Guitar Hero World Tour)
It is, in case you’re not down in the vicinity of where all the fashionable kids hang out, the cool thing. Release your record via Rock Band and/or Guitar Hero, so that instead of being seen as some crusty old group reforming once more to pay off a few debts, you are, in fact, bleeding-edge innovators who have STILL GOT IT.
Next to try it is The Smashing Pumpkins, who will be releasing two old songs a few people have heard of – 1979 and The Everlasting Gaze – alongside one ALL NEW SONG called G.L.O.W.
SHOCK: We get "stressed" when not near an internet connection
Worried that someone’s relationship status has just changed on Facebook and you’re in the middle of nowhere and won’t find out until 6.35pm at best? Concerned that someone’s just Twittered about an update to their Flickr page which contains a photo of you taken at 2.25am last Saturday, but you’re eight miles from the nearest wi-fi point?
You are not alone. 27% of Britons apparently suffer from “stress” when not able to go online. This leads to a feeling of uselessness…
MTV launching HD music channel across Europe, from September
Staring from September 15 you’ll be able to scrutinise the skin of your favourite pop star in more detail than ever before, as MTV and its parent company Viacom launch an HD music channel for quite a chunk of Europe.
Initially shaming Britney Spears in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland and Sweden, the channel will feature “new music” and “programming for kids,” all in English…
