BMG trials new CD copy protection

Music giant BMG, the US subsidiary of Bertelsmann, is testing a new form of DRM in the US. The technology will be trialled on a new CD called `Comin' From Where I'm From` by Anthony Hamilton (no we haven't heard of him either). The new CD will contain two copies of each song. ...more

Sun swishes back into PC territory

Sun unveils today its first sub-$1000 UNIX workstation - the Sun Blade 100. The new workstation is targeted directly against the higher-end PCs that have eaten into the market share of the traditional workstation. PC builders, such as Dell and Compaq, have long been releasing ever more powerful Wintel machines to compete for the computation-intensive work of engineers and designers, the typical workstation users. ...more

Skype and KaZaA named in Morpheus suit

Skype and KaZaA are among defendants named in a suit brought by peer-to-peer specialist StreamCast Networks. StreamCast Networks, maker of the Morpheus client, names Skype and KaZaA and the founders of both products, Niklas Zennstr?m and Janus Friis, in the first four defendants. Also included in the list are companies that helped develop the software and the FastTrack peer-to-peer technology underlying Skype and KaZaA, including Joltid OU and BlueMoon OU. ...more

New York sues alleged spyware company

New York is suing one of the US's biggest internet marketing companies. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, says that the company is one of the biggest sources of spyware and adware, which has it has been distributing to millions of unsuspecting PCs. The state of NY is suing the Los Angeles-based Intermix Media that provides a range of sites for offering free software downloads such as e-cards and screensavers. ...more

PDA shipments triple across Europe

Mobile device shipments nearly tripled across Europe in the first half of the year according to analysts Canalys. According to the company, volumes of smart phones and wireless handhelds rose 170 per cent year on year in EMEA to 9.6m. ...more