TheRF / Published
Tesco is currently trialling its recently acquired PC Guys service in several branches of the supermarket.
And a host of other companies are springing up, promising to troubleshoot all those IT niggles from the comfort of your home.
BBC News spent time with three of the more established services - The Geek Squad, The Tech Guys and BT's Home IT Visit service - in an effort to learn what people are using such services for and how the firms measure up.
If someone needs a plumber or a mechanic there are some basic professional qualifications they can measure them against and, although there are plenty of qualifications available to IT workers, there is no one recognised standard.
With so many independent firms offering home IT support, this could be a problem, sa... More »
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A TSF team has been waiting in Bangkok, Thailand, with its equipment all week. "We're stuck for the moment; so much time has been wasted," TSF spokesman Oisin Walton told BBC News.
If visas are eventually granted, the team will go in to set up phone and other network links. These will be used by many aid groups to co-ordinate the huge relief effort that is needed.
Locals will also be offered "welfare calls", to make contact with friends and family who will have been worried about their safety. The UN fears more than 1.5 million people have been affected by Cyclone Nargis which struck on Saturday.
Tens of thousands have made homeless; communications are down an... More »
Crowds formed at the Carlos III shopping centre in Havana, though most had come just to look. The desktop computers cost almost $800 (£400), in a country where the average wage is under $20 (£10) a month.
But some Cubans do have access to extra income, much of it from money sent by relatives living abroad. Since taking over the presidency in February, Raul Castro has ended a range of restrictions and allowed Cubans access to previously banned consumer goods.
In recent weeks thousands of Cubans have snapped up mobile phones and DVD players. But only now have the first computer stocks arrived.
Internet access remains restricted to certain workplaces, schools and universities on the island.
The government... More »
But only a million households will be able to get access to the service, which offers speeds of up to 24Mbps. Jupiter analyst Ian Fogg said the roll-out was "tardy" and available to "a tiny fraction" of UK households.
Writing on his blog, he said: "If this is BT's 21st century network then those fibre to the home networks are for the 22nd century."
Some ISPs in the UK, such as Sky, O2 and Be, have already begun to offer ADSL2+ in the UK by deploying their own technology in exchanges.
"BT appear to have reverted to the sloth of the Home Highway period, rather than building upon their more recent successes in extending DSL's UK availability so widely," said Mr Fogg.
More »
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PC makers are finding ways to keep selling Windows XP despite Microsoft efforts to remove it from sale. Dell, HP and Lenovo are exploiting loopholes in Microsoft's licensing terms to extend the operating system beyond a 30 June end of life date.
XP is being phased out in favor of Windows Vista which has, so far, got a lukewarm welcome from many firms. The news comes as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer hints that XP could live longer if enough customers demand it.
Long life: Dell is using a clause in the conditions for Windows Vista which lets it provide XP under the terms of a "downgrade license" for the Business and Ultimate versions of the new operating system.
This means that Dell can install Windows XP Professional for free on its Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision machines. In the main these deals are meant for business customers.
For consumers and small firms Dell will, for a fee, install XP Pro on Vostro and XPS gaming ma... More »
XP is being phased out in favor of Windows Vista which has, so far, got a lukewarm welcome from many firms. The news comes as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer hints that XP could live longer if enough customers demand it.
Long life: Dell is using a clause in the conditions for Windows Vista which lets it provide XP under the terms of a "downgrade license" for the Business and Ultimate versions of the new operating system.
This means that Dell can install Windows XP Professional for free on its Latitude, OptiPlex, and Precision machines. In the main these deals are meant for business customers.
For consumers and small firms Dell will, for a fee, install XP Pro on Vostro and XPS gaming ma... More »
The BBC has signed a deal with internet and phone provider Virgin Media to make its iPlayer service available on TV. Virgin Media customers will be able to catch up on the past week's programmes without the need for downloading.
Malcolm Wall, the company's CEO of content, said it was "proud to be working with the BBC to continue to lead this revolution in TV viewing". The BBC has already reached a deal with games giant Nintendo to make its video on-demand tool available to Wii users.
The service allows 3.5 million Virgin customers to catch up on more than 350 hours of TV programmes from the past seven days at no additional cost.
'Realised ambition'
"We have always envisaged [the] BBC iPlayer on a TV platform and in the living room," said Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of future media and technology.
"By working with Virgin Media, this ambition has been realised. This partnership takes us a step closer to transf... More »
Malcolm Wall, the company's CEO of content, said it was "proud to be working with the BBC to continue to lead this revolution in TV viewing". The BBC has already reached a deal with games giant Nintendo to make its video on-demand tool available to Wii users.
The service allows 3.5 million Virgin customers to catch up on more than 350 hours of TV programmes from the past seven days at no additional cost.
'Realised ambition'
"We have always envisaged [the] BBC iPlayer on a TV platform and in the living room," said Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of future media and technology.
"By working with Virgin Media, this ambition has been realised. This partnership takes us a step closer to transf... More »
The old question of how drivers of salt-spreading lorries get to work could soon be answered under government plans to recycle summer sunshine collected by Britain's roads and use it to keep them ice-free in winter.
The Highways Agency plans to install pipes underneath a section of road to gather solar energy in summer and recirculate it in winter.
Experts hope the scheme could be a way to treat the roads which are the first to freeze. Officials are also testing the technology to heat and cool buildings, cut energy bills and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
If successful, the pilot scheme could be extended to more roads.
An agency spokeswoman said a final decision on which trunk road to use for the trial would be made this year. The road should have maintenance work scheduled so that delays to the public are minimised, she added.
The scheme, known as interseasonal heat transfer, or IHT, will lay a network of plastic pip... More »
The Highways Agency plans to install pipes underneath a section of road to gather solar energy in summer and recirculate it in winter.
Experts hope the scheme could be a way to treat the roads which are the first to freeze. Officials are also testing the technology to heat and cool buildings, cut energy bills and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
If successful, the pilot scheme could be extended to more roads.
An agency spokeswoman said a final decision on which trunk road to use for the trial would be made this year. The road should have maintenance work scheduled so that delays to the public are minimised, she added.
The scheme, known as interseasonal heat transfer, or IHT, will lay a network of plastic pip... More »
High street chains will be the next victims of cyber terrorism, some of the world's elite hackers have warned.
They claim it is only a "matter of time" before the likes of Tesco and Marks & Spencer are targeted.
Criminals could use the kind of tactics which crippled Estonia's government and some firms last year, they warned.
The experts were members of the infamous "Hackers Panel" which convened in London this week at the InfoSecurity Europe conference.
The panel includes penetration testers and so-called "white hat" hackers, who help companies tighten up their digital security by searching for flaws in their defences.
Previous panellists include Gary McKinnon, known as Solo, alleged by the US government to have hacked into dozens of US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense computers.
The "hackers" usually remain anonymous, "for security reasons", but this year's panellists agreed to break co... More »
They claim it is only a "matter of time" before the likes of Tesco and Marks & Spencer are targeted.
Criminals could use the kind of tactics which crippled Estonia's government and some firms last year, they warned.
The experts were members of the infamous "Hackers Panel" which convened in London this week at the InfoSecurity Europe conference.
The panel includes penetration testers and so-called "white hat" hackers, who help companies tighten up their digital security by searching for flaws in their defences.
Previous panellists include Gary McKinnon, known as Solo, alleged by the US government to have hacked into dozens of US Army, Navy, Air Force, and Department of Defense computers.
The "hackers" usually remain anonymous, "for security reasons", but this year's panellists agreed to break co... More »
