Upwards of 429 million people have Internet access around the world, according to a report from Nielsen//NetRatings. The report on access and penetration shows that the US and Canada still account for the largest proportion of the world's Net access, with 41 per cent of the global audience. The UK and Ireland are the two countries most likely to have households accessing the Internet through sources other than a home-owned PC. In both countries, the majority of access to the Net through a source other than a home PC is through a work PC, rather than through a mobile telephone, a PalmPilot or a television.
Faster Silicon: Intel claims to have created the world's fastest silicon transistors. The tiny switches turn on and off nearly 1,000 times more quickly than those powering current microprocessors. But they are not expected to be incorporated into processors until 2007. The super-fast transistors, announced at a silicon nanotechnology workshop in Kyoto, Japan, are just 20 nanometers wide. One nanometer is around 10,000 times narrower than a human hair.
More Speed: IBM has apparently made a breakthrough in semiconductor technology that could boost chip speeds by as much as 35 per cent, while also reducing power requirements. Big Blue says it has perfected a way to alter silicon, the basic material used to build microchips, so that it can be stretched, speeding the flow of electrons through the transistors on the chip.
Plane Sailing: Executives of American, Delta and United airlines are to offer high-speed Internet connections on some long-distance US flights beginning next summer. The connections will cost around $20 an hour and offer email, access to the Web, and live television broadcasts. Passengers will have to bring their own laptop computers and special antennas on board the aircraft will connect with satellites to provide the Internet access.
One 2 Watch: British Telecom has announced it has struck a deal with One2One owner Deutsche Telekom over the sharing of mobile phone masts in the UK. BT Wireless and T-Mobile International - the two firms' mobile businesses - will also co-operate on the development of next generation (3G) phones.
Teenage Kicks: A teenage hacker who paralysed top US Internet sites last year was in juvenile court in Montreal, Canada, last week as a sentencing hearing got under way. "Mafiaboy", whose real name cannot be revealed under Canadian law because of his age, has pleaded guilty to launching a series of attacks that shut down websites such as Yahoo! and CNN.com in February 2000.
New Fusion: Esat Fusion has gone into partnership with Google - the developer of the quite possibly the Web's finest search engine. Now, through IOL and oceanfree.net users will be able to conduct precise, Ireland-only searches in addition to searching the entire Web. Google is the largest search engine on the web, providing users with immediate access to millions of country-specific pages, including a comprehensive collection of more than one million Irish websites.
In Search Of Power: A US Justice official has told a congressional subcommittee that law enforcers need more resources to combat cyber-crime and better laws to simplify the tracing of suspects over the Net. Michael Chertoff, an assistant attorney at the Justice Department, said tougher penalties that "are commensurate with the harm caused" are needed to adequately reflect the impact of crimes. For example, crimes such as disseminating an email virus can cause "millions, if not billions," of dollars in damages to government and businesses, he said.
The Danger Within: In-company computer hackers are more of a security risk than virus attacks, according to a new British survey. Employees have been blamed for attacks on computer systems, by 86 per cent of the companies questioned. The survey, for security company Integralis, found a similar percentage of company directors and IT managers had problems with workers distributing offensive junk e-mails, including pornography.
Fake Footage: A video file purporting to show the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh actually contains a harmful program that gives malicious hackers backdoor access to computers, security experts have warned. The ruse, which surfaced on Monday, hours after McVeigh's execution, tricked users into visiting a site and downloading a file which contains a "Trojan" program capable of opening their PCs to remote access.
Voluntary Separation: US PC maker Dell plans to shed around another 125 jobs in Ireland as part of its worldwide cost-cutting plan. Dell describes the move as "a voluntary separation programme" which will see around 125 staff go in Bray, Co Wicklow and Cherrywood, Co Dublin. A further 150 jobs will be cut in Dell's European headquarters near London. In May, Dell let go 200 administrative staff from its Limerick plant as part of its cost cutting programme which is aimed at shedding 3,000-4,000 jobs worldwide.
In Very Brief: PerfectWorld, the digital media consulting firm, has acquired a 10 per cent shareholding in hiTouch, the Irish Digital Media development firm.