BBC Micro Designer Gets CBE

Steve Furber, CBEThose of a certain age will wax lyrical and glow slightly when the BBC Micro is mentioned in a conversation. It was a computer – along with the Sinclair ZX80/81/ Spectrum – that introduced a generation of the UK to computing.

In Gordon Brown’s first New Years Honours List, Steve Furber, a principal designer of the BBC Microcomputer received one of the 32 CBE’s that were given this year.
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Online Holiday Retail Spending Sails Past $22 Billion In US

Online Holiday Retail Spending Sails Past $22 Billion In USUS online retailers have had a bumper holiday season, with virtual cash tills rattling to a $22 billion spending bonanza, up a hefty 18% increase from the same period last year.

The figures come from stat-loving boffins comScore, who recently released updated figures for the holiday e-commerce season spending for the first 44 days of the November – December 2007 holiday season (1 November – 14 December).
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VoIPFone Review: Save Yourself From SkypeIn

Skype seriously annoyed a lot of people when they gave less than a month to have their London SkypeIn phone numbers – many their main business number – changed by 20 December.

We were one of those unfortunates too, so were forced to take action.
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LG Viewty Shifts 310,000 In A Month

LG Viewty Shifts 310,000 In A MonthIt may not have enjoyed the hyperbolic pre-release press frenzy of the iPhone, but it seems that LG Electronics’ Viewty phone has turned into a big European seller, with the company reporting that 310,000 units have been shifted since the phone’s European launch, just five weeks ago.

The company claims that around 6,300 LG Viewty mobiles were sold daily in western Europe (UK, France and Germany), with sales expected to take another hike with the recent release of the handset in the Asian and Middle East market.
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Opera Take A Double EU Pop At Internet Explorer

Opera Take An Double EU Pop At Internet ExplorerMulti-platform Web browser company Opera have filed a complaint with the European Commission citing Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

The approach is two pronged – abuse of Microsoft’s dominant position in tying its browser to the Windows operating system and, second, hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards.
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Tcho: Wired Mag Founder, Rossetto, Chocolate Business

Tcho: Wired Mag Founder, Rossetto, Chocolate BusinessWe all used to love the early days when the new Wired magazine came out, right? The anticipation of the magazine which actually ‘Got it,’ alone in a world where all other magazines were clueless.

Well, after selling off Wired magazine and wired.com off for not nearly as much as he wanted to get for it, Wired founder, Louis Rossetto floated off to enjoy his life. Well now he’s back with a totally different business – Tcho, selling fine hand-made chocolate.
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