Stories by Douglas F. Gray

U.K. Mobile Subscribers Surge in Q4

All four mobile network providers in the U.K. saw their number of subscribers skyrocket in 1999, almost doubling the number of mobile phone users in the country, the companies announced today.

Reporter's Notebook: No Chaos at Chaos Congress

While the rest of Germany relaxed and celebrated the holidays, 1,400 members of the hacking community got down to business as Hamburg's Chaos Computer Club held its 16th annual Chaos Computer Congress in Berlin last week.

The wires behind the UK's Millennium Dome

On New Year's Eve, 12,000 invited guests, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair, will get the first official glimpse at what lies underneath the Millennium Dome, the largest structure of its kind in the world -- perhaps not only in size but in notoriety as well.

Study: Online gaming to reach $4.9b in 2004

Thanks in part to the popularity of Internet role-playing games and dedicated gaming consoles like Sega's Dreamcast, online gaming will grow to almost $US5 billion in the next five years.

BT to Offer PocketMail Service in U.K.

PocketScience Inc. announced that it has signed a letter of intent to licence its PocketMail service to a unit of British Telecommunications PLC (BT). PocketMail allows for e-mail to be sent and received over any telephone worldwide via a handheld device.

ATI to Release Open Source Drivers for Linux

ATI Technologies Inc. today said it will release more programming specifications for its Rage line of graphics chips, a move designed to encourage Linux developers to create more drivers that can be used with the operating system.
ATI supplies graphics components and multimedia technology for PCs, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics devices. The graphics chip maker, which already supports open source drivers for its two-dimensional products, is seeking to expand support for 3D and multimedia products by releasing development information relating to its 3D and multimedia Rage Pro and Rage 128 graphics chips, the company said in a statement today.

Freeserve Trial to Offer ADSL 'Net Access

Freeserve PLC announced yesterday that it will begin a trial offering high-speed Internet access to U.K. users from November.
The ISP (Internet service provider) beginning Nov. 22 will offer high-speed 'Net access using British Telecommunications PLC's ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) platform, Freeserve said in a statement.

Loki Announces Open Source JPEG Library

Loki Entertainment Software yesterday announced its third open-source project, a JPEG (joint photographic experts group) library for image manipulation in games.

Net Talk Debuts Voice Chat Software

Net Talk Inc. earlier this week released a light version of its forthcoming Internet voice chat software, and the company's top executive hopes that users are ready to move on from text-based chat services.
On Monday, the company made its Net Talk Lite available for free from its Web site. Net Talk Lite allows between two and four users with Microsoft Corp.'s NetMeeting 2.1 to communicate with each other by voice over the Internet. The software features a graphical interface with avatars -- graphical representations of users.

Virgin Goes Mobile with One 2 One

Virgin Group and U.K. mobile carrier One 2 One today announced they have formed a local joint venture company to sell mobile phones at a variety of Virgin's retail outlets.
Known as Virgin Mobile, the Trowbridge, Wiltshire-based 50-50 joint venture will kick off with a commitment of over 100 million [M] pounds (US$160 million [M]), the companies said in a statement released today.

BT to Roll Out ADSL Next Year

Customers in the U.K. can finally look forward to high-speed data and Internet services, now that British Telecommunications PLC (BT) has announced it will offer ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) services starting early next year.
By March, 2000, 400 switching exchanges, covering almost 6 million [M] households and businesses will be upgraded for ADSL, according to a BT press release issued today.
ADSL technology enables existing copper telephone lines to be transformed into high-speed data lines, sending data at speeds 10 to 40 times faster than analog modems.

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