Britain a nation of online shoppers

Britain's Internet users are Europe's shopaholics according to a new survey. 63 per cent of British home Internet users have bought something over the web in the past three months. This compares to only 55 per cent and 48 per cent for Germany and Sweden, which are the next biggest online shoppers and only 43 per cent for Europe as a whole. ...more

Microsoft leads drive for universal dock

Microsoft is leading a consortium of electronics companies to develop an industry-standard dock connector for portable devices such as MP3 players. The working group has been set up by the Consumer Electronics Association's Technology and Standards Mobile Electronics Committee (CEATSMEC) to create an electrical and mechanical specification for dock that can be used both in the home and in the car. Jal Jaisimha, lead program manager off Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division, will chair the working group. ...more

Sony on a chip

Joint venture to produce system-on-a-chip processors tailored to Sony's application requirements. IBM has signed multi-year agreements to license out its semiconductor technologies to Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba to develop high performance, low-power chips. IBM's expertise with process technologies, including silicon-on-insulator transistors and copper wires, will push the scale down to 50nanometres, less than half that used by Intel, which recently moved to a 0. ...more

Pop videos are music to Google's ears

Website publishers will be given the chance to host music videos on their site, under a new advertising scheme launched by Google. Google said it would distribute advertising alongside videos from Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group to website publishers, in a four-week test now underway. "Over the past few months, we have run tests to figure out how we work with our partners and advertisers to combine high quality video content with ads and then distribute them (over) the Google AdSense network," Google said in statement. ...more

Gartner predicts fall in PC sales in Europe, US

Sales of PCs are set to slow this year according to the latest forecasts from analysts Gartner. In a recent report the company says that worldwide growth in the sales of PCs will slow, with sales in 'mature' markets such as the Europe and the United States actually falling. According to the report, global shipments of PCs will reach 234. ...more