Technology news, latest reports from the North East

Customised websites – with a £50,000 price tag

Setting up a website ending in your business’s name or the sector in which you trade could soon become the norm. But customising your website won’t come cheap, as Karen Dent reports. Read

Game reviews

BATTLEFIELD: Bad Company comes booming and blasting its way to PS3 this week in an excellent first-person-shooter encounter that gives new meaning to the term fully destructible environments. Read

Boss plunges into turmoil of UK mortgage market

A NEW online firm which aims to cut red tape in the mortgage business expects to create 40 jobs in the next 12 months despite market turmoil. Read

Gates finally close behind 'geeky' Bill

TWO years after his retirement was first announced, Bill Gates stepped down from his full-time job at Microsoft last Friday to concentrate on his charitable work. Read

Eutechnyx strengthens the team

GAMES developer Eutechnyx has made a host of appointments in recent weeks after snapping up movie producer Todd Eckert to run its US operation. Read

Vital lessons for online entrepreneurs

IT SEEMS incredible that the world wide web is little more than 10 years old, and yet, in that time, it has revolutionised the worlds of business, communication and even academia. Read

Strategy key to progress

TEESSIDE's digital media champions have welcomed a university think-tank report, which urges greater support for the sector. Read

Game of two halves and we’re behind

Andrew Mernin finds out why an unfair playing field in the international video games industry is preventing thousands of jobs from coming to the North East. Read

Ill wind blows trade North

A DIGITAL media company believes the current economic turmoil is speeding its growth and now expects to triple turnover by 2010. Read

End of line for animation firm

AN animation firm has revealed plans to close its doors after admitting it could not achieve its ambitious expansion plans in the region. Read

Keeping tabs on Ronaldo

THE tug-of-war between Manchester United and Real Madrid over footballing superstar Christiano Ronaldo has dominated the back pages this summer. Read

My name’s Roddy and I’m addicted to Facebook

THE cravings get pretty bad around lunchtime … I’m allowed to have a quick fix at the discretion of my sympathetic boss. I retreat to my desk, with a warm mug of tea in hand and click on the bookmark in my web browser. Read

Row brewing on television over internet

THERE have never been more options for receiving television in the home. Digital terrestrial television (Freeview), satellite television (Sky and FreeSat) and dedicated television cable networks (eg, Virgin) all provide a wide range of digital television programming. Read

GameHorizon: Calls for more government support

THOUSANDS of jobs could be created in the North East if the Government answers calls for subsidies and tax breaks for video games businesses, an industry leader has claimed. Read

GameHorizon: David Solari

HAVING been at the helm of global games giant Codemasters for over 10 years, David Solari has helped launch a string of number one hits including LMA Manager, Colin McRae Rally 2 and World Championship Snooker. Read

GameHorizon: Games set to become number one

VIDEO games are set to overtake movies as the world’s dominant entertainment medium according to experts gathered at today’s GameHorizon conference in Gateshead. Read

GameHorizon: Developers look to the silver screen

WITH a video games industry worth an estimated £256m year, the North East has made a considerable impact on the global games sector in recent years. Read

Video games firms want to zap skills shortage

MEMBERS of the region’s video games sector have called for an overhaul of the education system in the fight to fill the skills gap, amid reports that the university system is failing the industry. Read

Twitter has a language all of its own

AS an IT manager, I trial a lot of new software, so I guess it’s not surprising that I’ve had an account with the web-based service, Twitter, for a while. Read