John Lister

No sooner has HD-DVD bitten the dust and a new DVD format appears to be launching -- but its creators say they aren't looking for a war with Sony's Blu-ray. New Medium Enterprises, based in London, say their HD VMD system will cost far less and ... therefore won't be a direct competitor. HD VMD, which stands for versatile multilayer discs, is based on the red-laser system found in standard DVD players, unlike Blu-ray which uses a more expensive laser. This means HD VMD players should retail for around $199, one-third cheaper than the lowest-priced Blu-ray machines. To date, virtually no major ... (view more)

In the wake of Toshiba surrendering in the next-generation DVD format wars, the effects of Blu-ray's victory are becoming widespread: Circuit City has announced it's tripling the returns period for HD-DVD players. That means anyone who bought a ... player in the past three months can return it. Customers can't get a refund but will receive store credit. The offer doesn't apply to the discs themselves. Returned HD-DVD players will likely be sold on clearance, and the company says such sales are going well as some people are getting them as a cheap upgrade for watching standard DVDs in better ... (view more)

As Microsoft continues its bid to take over Yahoo, both firms have announced moves to boost their standing in the mobile Internet market. Microsoft has signed a deal to supply its Silverlight system to cell phones made by Nokia. The system is a ... rival to Adobe's Flash software and allows devices to run interactive graphics and animations. At first the system will only be available on high-end Nokia models. However, it's likely to be extended to other handsets, including those from LG and Samsung, so could theoretically wind up on 53% of all smart phones. If Silverlight becomes popular, ... (view more)

A North Carolina man has become the first person jailed in the US for spamming, despite his attempts to cite the First Amendment. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a nine year sentence given to Jeremy Jaynes, though only by a 4-3 margin. It's ... thought he sent ten million spam messages in July and August of 2003 alone, though the original prosecutors only presented evidence of 53,000 messages sent over a three-day period (it's a felony crime to send more than 10,000 spams a day). He was found guilty on three counts, and given a three year-sentence for each. Jaybes was prosecuted in Virginia, ... (view more)

Search site Ask.com -- formerly Ask Jeeves -- is to ditch 8% of its workforce and re-evaluate its strategy. It seems the site will be revamped from a general search site to one aimed specifically at married women, with an emphasis on lifestyle ... issues. New CEO Jim Safka says research found 65% of the site's users are female, compared with 48% across all search engines. The site is particularly popular with women in their late 30s living in the Midwest and Southeast. (Source: reuters.com ) Ask is currently the fifth biggest search engine, but has a mere 4.5% market share, far behind Google's 58 ... (view more)

The body which regulates British newspapers is considering guidelines to restrict journalists from using social networking profiles as sources. It follows increasing complaints from people who have become the subject of stories and find details from ... sites such as Facebook included in newspaper articles. Tim Toulin, director of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), said "It's down to the PCC to set the boundaries in a common sense way about what sort of information it is acceptable to re-publish". The PCC is an industry body made up of newspaper editors and independent representatives which ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced surprise price cuts to its Windows Vista operating system, in some cases slashing the cost almost by half. In the United States, the price will drop from $399 to $319 for the hi-spec Ultimate edition. The standard Home ... edition price is falling from $259 to $219. The price cuts vary in other countries, and the new prices will take effect once Service Pack 1, the first major update to Vista, is released. For emerging markets such as Russia and India, Microsoft is dropping its upgrade option, by which existing Windows users can get Vista for a reduced price. They've found ... (view more)

Network management is easy. No really, it is. Or at least, it is when you use a new software package from PacketTrap called pt360 Tool Suite Free/Pro (pt360). You see, the folks over at PacketTrap.com realize that running a network can be a painful, ... complex affair that often involves utilizing dozens of tools to diagnose a network problem -- and few ever use a graphical user interface (GUI). In other words, diagnosing a network problem relies on reading long-winded, boring, ugly, jargon-filled text. That's where PacketTrap's pt360 is different. pt360 works just like a dashboard on a car: or ... (view more)

Apple has become the second largest seller of music in America, behind only Wal-Mart. The statistic comes from market research group NPD; its chart is based on the number of sales rather than the actual revenue. To make for a fair comparison, it ... counts 12 individual song downloads on Apple's iTunes service as equivalent to one sale of a physical CD album. Apple was ranked fourth in the same study last year, but has now leapfrogged both Target and Best Buy. A spokesman for NPD said the change was "fairly understandable given the pressure that's been on CDs and the almost 50-percent growth in ... (view more)

Microsoft's feud with the European Union became even more bitter today when regulators hit the firm with another $1.2 billion in fines. This time the penalty was for breaching a 2004 ruling that banned the firm from charging "unreasonable" prices ... for rivals to access software information they needed to produce Windows-compatible programs. Microsoft had been charging 3.87% royalties for all licensed Windows products, and an extra 2.98% to provide the necessary information. Microsoft have now reduced these rates in Europe but maintains them elsewhere. "Microsoft is the first company in 50 years ... (view more)