Government pushes SMEs online with ?5.5m

E-commerce Minister Patricia Hewitt has pledged $5.5m in a bid to push a million SMEs trading online by 2002. Figures from the DTI report that there are currently 450,000 SMEs trading online, with 1. ...more

DVD Jon in the clear

DVD Jon has been cleared for a second time for writing and publishing a program that 'cracks' DVD protection, allowing him to watch his DVD movies on his computer. 'Criminally prosecuting a DVD owner for "breaking into" a DVD he owns was always ridiculous,' said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Legal Director Cindy Cohn. 'The Norwegian appellate court has upheld Johansen's rights and many movie fans would love to see similar rulings elsewhere. ...more

Adobe serves up Web studio

The increasing use of the Web for job management and collaboration has not gone unnoticed at Adobe and in response it has unveiled its Adobe Studio Web site. Adobe Studio aims, in the company's words, to offer designers, "tools and services to inspire the creative process, improve productivity and find new business opportunities". The site is split into two main areas. ...more

Panasonic upgrades its Blu-ray disc production line

Panasonic has upgraded its Blu-ray disc production line in preparation for the replication of dual-layer 50GB BD-ROMs. The Torrance, California plant will employ Panasonic spin coating technologies to create the two recordable layers using readily available and therefore cheap UV curable resins. 'Working closely with the movie studios and our replication partners, Panasonic was able to foresee the need for greater disc capacity to give consumers a much richer user experience,' said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, director of Strategy & Alliances, Panasonic Hollywood Lab. ...more

Symantec sues Microsoft

A bitter fight has broken out between Microsoft and security specialist Symantec that could threaten the launch of the Vista and Longhorn server operating systems. Symantec claims that Microsoft is illegally using its security code in the new OSs and has filed a lawsuit claiming damages and an asking for a court injunction to prevent their market debut. Any legal delay to the rollout of the much delayed Vista would be another blow to Microsoft as it attempts to build market awareness ahead of the official launch at the end of this year. ...more