Fastest Pentium
Intel has released a Pentium 4 chip running at 3.2GHz, which may prove to be the last in the line before its replacement, codenamed Prescott, arrives later this year. Prescott will have the same architecture but carries extra instructions for multimedia processing. Next week, Intel is also expected to release its next server chip, codenamed Madison, to replace the Itanium 2 processor. The initial version will run at 1.5GHz in single-processor systems. A dual processor version is expected later for high-performance, clustered servers. www.intel.com/products/desktop/
RSI help
AbilityNet, a charity sponsored by Microsoft, is preparing a document to show how computers can be customised to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury. The information will cover how features within Windows can be implemented to reduce repetitive tasks and how the mouse and keyboard can best be set up. RSI is cited as the reason for 5.4m sick days each year and employees who use a keyboard for six hours or more per day are most at risk.
<A HREF="http://www.abilitynet.org.uk"" TARGET="_NEW">www.abilitynet.org.uk
ASP lives
Hewlett-Packard and NetLedger, the developers of Oracle's Small Business Suite, are working together to produce online applications and optimised hardware. At the CeBIT exhibition in New York last week, the companies said this would allow small and medium-sized businesses access to high-end applications similar to those used by corporates. HP will initially offer NetLedger's NetSuite customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software as an online service. NetLedger will act as the application service provider (ASP) using HP servers running Linux.
Instant control
US securities regulators have introduced regulations that may influence the adoption of instant messaging (IM) in other industries. The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) has decreed that every US securities company must retain IM records for at least three years. This will herald a rush to stop employees from using consumer software that does not allow IM conversations to be recorded, stored or monitored.
http://www.nasdr.com/news/pr2003/release_03_026.html
Benefit cards
Asylum seekers have become the first to use Home Office smart cards to control cash benefit payments and eliminate fraud. The asylum registration cards, developed by Applied Card Technologies and SodexhoPass UK, use terminals in post offices to identify personal allowances allocated to each asylum seeker. The cards can only be used in a specific post office's terminal, which communicates daily with a Home Office database to determine benefit levels and download a list of invalid cards. As part of the validation process, each card is cancelled as it is processed and then returned to the Home Office for re-use. The cards replace paper vouchers that could be copied or altered.
Local difficulties
Local government is only paying lip service to the e-government initiative, according to a survey published by Kana, an enterprise customer support and communications applications provider. It says more than 80% of portals lack detailed information in their frequently asked questions (FAQs) and self-help sections, while over half took longer than a week to answer emails requesting important information.
Keen e-voters
Swindon borough council says that 94% of 6,500 users of internet voting who responded to its research would use it in a general election. Similar research by Sheffield city council found that 97% of the e-voters it surveyed would. too. However, a report from the Electoral Reform Society says e-voting did not increase turnout in the trials. It recommends voter education and changes in the voting system, so individual votes are more likely to make a difference to the outcome.
Freer access
Lord Filkin, a minister in the new department for constitutional affairs, said the Freedom of Information Act means that public sector staff must move from telling the public what they think they need to know, to giving citizens access to a broad range of information. The act comes into force at the start of January 2005, and requires the UK's 100,000 public sector bodies to answer questions on their activities within 20 days of a written request.
www.gnn.gov.uk
GPs end IT control
The new NHS contract for general practitioners, endorsed by the members of the British Medical Association last week, means that surgery IT will be run by the local primary care trust, rather than GPs. According to health IT website e-health-media.com, this will allow central procurement and integration of health records, but also means that GPs will lose some control of their IT.
