The German federal cabinet earlier this week agreed to move forward with legislation that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to block Web pages containing child pornography. The new law, which will likely be passed next month, will probably take another three to six months to implement as ISPs move to install and activate blocking […]

Yesterday in this space, we recalled the height of the personal computer boom of the late 1990s, focusing on the fortunes of one of the iconic publications that chronicled that heady time. Today, we remember the decline and fall… *** Boom to bust Around the turn of the millennium, the computer retail industry started to […]

The Chinese government apparently blocked access to the popular YouTube video sharing site earlier this week, the Reuters news agency reports. YouTube availability was described as having been ‘spotty’ since early March. The Chinese government has been cracking down hard on foreign Web sites and domestic bloggers who, in its opinion, post ‘harmful’ information. Nevertheless, […]

Yesterday in this space, we started an in-depth look at the rise and fall of the personal computer era, by following the rise and fall of one of the publications that chronicled the period. Today, we remember the ‘glory’ years… *** Riding the wave 1994 was the year that the personal computer boom really started. […]

Virgin Mobile, which targets young, hip cell users, has launched a major new Canadian initiative to both gauge the mood of connected young Canadians and give them a place to air their frustration with the current economy. The Mood Meter is an easy-reference device, like the forest fire alert at the entrance to camping areas, […]

Not with a bang… The April issue of MONiTOR magazine, a regional computer and Internet monthly serving Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, Canada, will be its last. Proprietor Performance Printing Ltd. announced yesterday it was pulling the plug following several quarters of declining advertising revenues. It was a sad end to the epic story of […]

If you haven’t already heard of IMDb, the Intnernet Movie Database, it’s the Google of movie info search and the last of several movie info database sites left standing following a shakeout in that sector in the late 1990s and early 00s. IMDb has more than 1.3 million movie titles indexed along with all the […]

According to new survey of 2,005 Americans conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) for the U.S. New Millennium Research Council (NMRC), as many as 60 million U.S. cell phone users — almost 40 per cent — are prepared to cut back on their wireless service plans to save money. Significantly, 26 per cent of cell […]

Search giant Google officially added a new Internet phone service to its stable of ‘cloud’ services last week. Google Voice distinguishes itself from other VoIP services in that it can aggregate voice and text messages from various phone numbers for remote access from a single location by phone or email. Long distance connections will be […]

Several Canadian provincial jurisdictions have instituted ‘enhanced’ driver’s licence cards at the urging of both the Canadian federal government and the U.S. government, which will accept the licences as valid ID for land-based border crossing purposes. But privacy groups are warning that the new licences, based on ‘contactless’ smart card technology, represent a dangerous risk […]

Apple released the next version of the iPhone operating system to developers earlier this week. Among the new features phone makers can go to town on: System-wide search, using Apple’s Spotlight search technology. Copy-and-paste for text, photos and SMS, one of iPhone users’ most-wamted additions. Multimedia Messaging Services, allowing iPhone users to include images and […]

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), an online privacy rights group, has requested that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission grant an injunction that would halt all Google ‘cloud computing’ activities. The EPIC says Google online services including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and other popular Google Apps should be shut down until the company modifies […]