The Apple faithful are gathering in San Francisco ahead of Steve Jobs’ annual keynote, in which he is expected to unveil new products.
Top of the most-wanted list, according to reports, is an ultra-slim laptop, using flash storage instead of a hard drive, and movie rentals for iTunes.
Last year, Apple unveiled the iPhone to great fanfare […]

Ciscoy announced today a series of new technology solutions and multivendor architectures that will help retailers improve security and reduce complexity of store systems in addition to increasing employee productivity to enhance their customers’ experience.
Cisco is launching the Lean Retail Architecture, a new way to help retailers “do more with less” which features information technology […]

The European Commission is launching two new anti-competition investigations against US computer giant Microsoft.
The first will look at whether Microsoft unfairly ties its Explorer internet browser to its Windows operating system.
In a parallel probe, the Commission will look at the interoperability of Microsoft software with rival products.
The firm said it would cooperate with the latest […]

The One Laptop Per Child organisation sets up a program to deliver laptops to the poorest US children.

(TP) Mexican telecommunications firm Axtel has selected Motorola as a vendor to provide access points, core network equipment, associated services and customer devices for its initial deployment of WiMAX technology. Axtel will purchase from Motorola equipment to install 802.16e WiMAX radiobase stations, voice and data customer premise equipment and PCMCIA cards. Laptops, PDA’s and handsets with WiMAX embedded chipsets are expected to be available by the end of 2008 or beginning 2009. With WiMAX technology, Axtel’s residential and business customers will have further availability of virtual private network services and access to high-speed internet in Axtel coverage areas. Deployment of WiMAX technology has begun in Monterrey, Puebla and Guadalajara.

(TP) Spain added 182,263 mobile phone subscriptions in November 2007, taking the toal to 49.58 million mobile lines, or 110.9 lines per 100 inhabitants, according to telecommunication regulator CMT. Of the subscribers, 50.7 percent (92,407) signed with Vodafone, 30.2 percent (55,043) chose Yoigo, 10.9 percent (19,867) went with Telefonica Movil’s Movistar, and 1.6 percent (2,916) chose MVNOs. Mobile number portability rose by 7 percent to 328,455 lines in November 2007 compared to November 2006. Telefonica added 18,269 ported numbers and Yoigo added 18,150. Orange had lost 21,945 net lines to portability, followed by Vodafone with 12,131, Euskaltel with 359 and the remainder of MVNOs lost 1,987.

(TP) Canadian cable operator Shaw Communications reported revenue of CAD 743.8 million for the fiscal first quarter ended 30 November, up 10.9 percent from CAD 671 million in the same period last year. Service operating income before amortisation increased 11 percent to CAD 332.9 million, and cash flow from operations increased 17.4 percent to CAD 286 million. Net income was up 38.3 percent to CAD 112.2 million or CAD 0.26 per share, compared to CAD 81.1 million or CAD 0.19 per share previously. Basic cable subscribers increased by 8,138 in the quarter to total 2.23 million at the end of November. Digital customers grew by 39,496 to 802,636, and internet customers grew by 34,719 to 1.48 million. Digital phone lines were up 50,339 to 435,696. DTH subscribers increased by 1,544 to 881,129.

(TP) Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Oger has acquired Romanian mobile operator Telemobil (Zapp), according to Romanian news site Hotnews. Saudi Oger acquired 50 percent of the Inquam Limited shares from US-based Qualcomm. Saudi Oger already owned 50 percent of Telemobil’s subisidiary Inquam through its investment fund Omnia Holdings. Both parties involved have not made public the terms of the transaction. Telemobil recently won the licence for a UMTS spectrum in the 2100 MHz band and will shortly begin expanding its network utilising this frequency. in 2001, Telemobil launched a 450 MHz CDMA network developed by Qualcomm. Saudi Oger is a group controlled by the family of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri. Saudi Oger is the main shareholder of Oger Telecom.

(TP) Australian telecommunications company Pipe Networks will begin a AUD 200 million project constructing an undersea cable system linking Sydney to Guam. The 6,900 km cable is referred to as PPC-1 (or Project Runway) and the main trunk of the system will be a 2-pair fibre cable capable of delivering 1.92 Tbps. Foundation customers include VSNL, Telikom PNG, Iinet, Internode and Primus Telecom. Pipe Networks did not disclose other domestic and international customer contracts citing confidentiality restrictions. The system is expected to be completed mid to late 2009.

PC users are being warned about a password-stealing virus that hides deep inside Windows.