eToys pull the plug on UK trading

eToys, one of the UK's largest online toys retailer is to cease European operations early this year, and pull the plug on UK trading on 19 Jan. The company warned in December that sales had fallen far short of expectations and is now looking at merger, asset sales and other options. However, one man's loss is another man's gain, as all items on the eToys. ...more

Office workers sick of decrepit computers

Old and unreliable computers make office workers unhappy and more likely to take sick time, according to a new survey. The poll of 2,700 office workers in the UK, France and Germany found that as computers age workers become significantly less happy. British workers said old computers were the single most irritating thing about office life. ...more

Sony puts 23.3GB on CD-sized disc

Sony has unveiled a new blue laser optical storage drive capable of storing 23.3GB on a disc the size of a CD. The drive can write data at 9MB/sec write-once or rewriteable discs, which are held in cartridges to protect both the surface of the disc and the drive mechanism. ...more

Child porn threat increases on the Net

Rome-based group Rainbow Phone has said sites with explicit images of child pornography leapt 70 per cent over the last year. It claims it received reports of more than 17,000 such sites during 2003, with 60 per cent based in the US, although Russia, Brazil, Italy and Spain were also harbours for such online activity. Last year's US investigation Operation Predator has resulted in arrests of some 1,600 people, and it was announced yesterday that it had broken up an international network, detaining 15 people, of which one was 85 years old. ...more

Europe clinches deal on music royalties

The European Commission has given its blessing to a deal between the major record labels and the local royalty 'collecting societies'. Under the new arrangement broadcasters and Internet music download sites now only have to negotiate a single deal with one of the societies in order to gain the right to distribute songs across the EEA (European Economic Area. Under the new Central Licensing Agreement, a record company can obtain a copyright license for the combined repertoires of all the collecting societies and covering the whole of the EEA or part thereof, from any collecting society within the EEA. ...more