Skype pushes for mobile market

Skype has petitioned the US Federal Communications Commission to force mobile operators to relax controls on the kind of hardware and software that can be connected to their networks.

News.com says Skype clearly wants to clear the way for users who access the Internet over mobile devices to be able to use the company's software and services. Skype argues mobile operators should no longer be able to control what customers can do.

However, the article notes that consumers with smart phones running Windows Mobile can already download and use the Skype client. It also quotes an industry researcher as saying it would be difficult for mobile operators to prevent customers from using Skype on their mobile phones.

Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 is a good and free virtualisation option for Windows users, says eWeek.

According to the article, the latest version of the product gives developers and administrators an inexpensive option for meeting their testing, support and application compatibility needs through virtualisation. It also adds support for Windows Vista as a host or guest operating system.

However, the article notes that although VPC 2007 offers Vista support, it does not match VMware's Workstation 5.5 in functionality. It does not support 64-bit guest operating systems, expose multiple processors to guest VMs or run on Linux host operating systems.

UK health minister Philip Hunt says the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging could save the National Health Service (NHS) millions of pounds a year by reducing extra days in hospital that result from incorrectly identifying patients, reports Computing.

Hunt says studies have shown the use of auto-identification and data capture technology will save lives and improve efficiency. As well as identifying patients, RFID can be used to ensure the right drugs are administered and to track hospital equipment.

A health department report recommends NHS organisations join the GS1 standard coding system to ensure interoperability across the health service. Hunt has tasked the NHS IT agency with coordinating the pilot and GS1 membership.