Topic: News

mm02 paraded a clutch of plans today to improve data revenues. The mobile network operator is setting up a public wireless LAN (PWLAN) network in the UK, introducing ICQ instant messaging to its German operation, committing to an updated version of its XDA voice/data handset, out in time for Christmas.

Connie, the annoyingly prim face of AOL UK for the last five years, has been told her (virtual) services will no longer be required by the company.

PC manufacturer Gateway has launched several non-PC products during the last couple of months, trying desperately to turn the company profitable again. The company's latest consumer electronics product is a stand-alone DVD player that includes 802.11b compatible WLAN access.

Australian lawmakers could make spam illegal by the end of the year, reports state. The move could make Australia the first country in the world to outlaw what Bill Gates calls this "pollution of the email ecosystem".

321 Studios has released a new version of DVD X Copy XPRESS.

The software company this month quietly launched a new search program called MSNBot, which scours the Web to build an index of HTML links and documents. The homegrown system--which performs robot functions previously left to Inktomi and other partners--may pose a significant threat to Google if Microsoft fulfills its promise to make the program a cornerstone of its overall PC and services strategies.

Livephish is a Pay-Per-Download service that offers live show recordings. Livephish has now adopted their premium service downloads to use the lossless open source FLAC audio format. This means that the downloadable files are of 44.1kHz/16bit CD audio quality.

Microsoft Corp. is assembling a team of experts charged with battling the accelerating spread of spam as unsolicited e-mail clogs in-boxes worldwide, including that of Bill Gates, founder and chairman of the world's largest software maker.

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. has made a strategic decision to partially withdraw from the CD-R and DVD-R manufacturing arena. Computer Support Italcard s.r.l. (CSI) of Italy, has agreed to acquire the majority stake in Mitsui Advanced Media, Inc.

They call him the Goblin. He is the new toast of Russia's massive pirate video industry, his films sought all over Moscow. The trick of his silver screen success is that the Goblin redubs Hollywood movies, using his own 'better' Russian alternative to the script.

Following last week's triumphant announcement by Nintendo that it had won a victory over Hong Kong based mail order retailer Lik-Sang, one of the company's founders, Alex Kampl, has spoken publicly about the ruling.

Despite the whopping success of Apple's iTunes online music store, some popular artists have refused to sell their music in single track format.

US federal agents may gain the power to pursue people swapping copyright material online.

BenQ, a major optical storage drive maker in Taiwan, recently started shipping a 4x half-height DVD+RW drive and expects to launch 8x half-height DVD+RW and DVD-Dual drives in the second half of this year, with volume production of the 8x DVD+RW drive expected to start in September, the company said.

A BUS firm is installing DVD recorders linked to cameras on its fleet to capture thugs and vandals on film.

TDK is now shipping its Multi-format DVD Burner capable of 4x writing for both DVD+R and DVD-R formats.

DVD movie rentals for the first time surpassed that of videocassettes last week, making DVD the most popular home video format in the United States.

The High Court of Hong Kong decided that a Hong Kong-based mail order company Lik-Sang to stop immediately selling devices that could be used to make backups of Nintendo Game Boy's console games.

The most dramatic thing is probably the proposed rate for the media levy -- the levy (or stealth tax or whatever you want to call it) would add a decent SEK31 (appx. £2.40) to each blank DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc despite its existing retail price. The proposed levy for recordable discs (whether a CD-R or DVD-R or other digital medium) is SEK0.0025 per megabyte and SEK0.007 for re-recordable discs (such as DVD-RW, CD-RW or DVD+RW). This would make the additional levy on a typical CD-R about £0.13-£0.14 and £0.88-£0.90 for a DVD-R!

Nero, leaders in digital media technology, have announced that Nero Express 5.5, the highly successful, easy-to-use DVD/CD application software, is to be included with all U.S. retail versions of the latest Pioneer DVR-A06 DVD/CD writer.