Music sales strong despite downloaders

The downloading of music over the Internet has not had the expected impact on UK music sales, according to new figures released by the BPI. Music industry bodies, such as the BPI and the IFPI, have spent much of the past year predicting doom and gloom for the music industry, and laying the blame squarely at the feet of computer users. However, sales figures for 2002 show that album sales have remained strong. ...more

Amazon sells everything including the kitchen sink

Online retailer Amazon.co.uk has opened a new Kitchen & Home store. ...more

O2 customers get instant messaging

mmO2 has added AIM and ICQ instant messaging to its rosta of mobile services - with a UK launch this autumn. Today sees the launch of the services in Germany, following a group-wide agreement between mmO2 and the parent company of AIM and ICQ, AOL Time Warner. As far as possible the interface and experience have been kept close to the desktop original, says the company, while additional features such as Tegic's T9 predictive text input will help users of handset rather than PDA style devices type more easily. ...more

Formac adds 19in to Gallery monitor range

Formac has added a 19in model to its Gallery range of TFT flat panel monitors. The Gallery 1900 has a 1280x1024 display, with a viewing angle of 170, 250cd/m brightness, a 500:1 contrast ratio and an average pixel response time of 25ms. There is also an anti-glare coating. ...more

Adobe shuts down - for a week

Adobe is forcing 2000 of its employees to take the first week in July off, as it intends to shut down to reduce costs, with sales affected by the slow down in the US economy. Only North American employees will be affected, with the time off coming from their annual 24-day allowance. Adobe claims that many had booked holiday for the week anyway. ...more