Apple responds to consumer rights bodies of iTunes terms tussle

Apple has met Tuesday's deadline for its response to claims by local consumer groups that the iTunes Music Store violates consumer protection laws in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. But the contents of Apple's 50-page submission have not been made public, after the company requested that at least parts of its remain confidential. Apple Norway's Arne Odden declined to say why the company asked for confidentiality Sweden's consumer authorities said that they will examine Apple's document before deciding whether to make the contents public. ...more

Pipex buys Bulldog's broadband customer base

Pipex has announced that it is to pay Cable & Wireless ?12m for Bulldog's 110,000 residential and small business broadband customers. C&W announced in June that it was pulling out of the retail broadband business to focus on its LLU-based wholesale business. In a deal separate to the customer acquisition, Pipex has signed up to add this network of 800 exchanges to its own LLU installations. ...more

CIA in secret chat room shocker

The CIA, that US guardian of secrets, has discovered one secret that it didn't know about - a secret chat room used by its own staff. The chat room was created within its classified computer system by employees at the agency and was used to trade standard office banter. However, the CIA has taken a dim view of the incident and has put up to 10 employees on leave while an inquiry gets underway. ...more

China celebrates New Year with SMS fireworks

The Chinese have celebrated the Lunar New Year - which officially began on 9 February - in mobile phone fashion. More than one billion text messages were sent on Tuesday's Lunar New Year's Eve alone, reports ChannelNewsAsia. Traditionally, people would go door-to-door to wish family and friends good fortune for the coming year, but technology is increasingly taking the strain. ...more

Quark 5 reaches UK and beyond

Quark has announced that the new version of its market leading DTP software has been released in Europe, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The application made its debut in the US in last month. As in the US, this QuarkXPress 5 runs only on Windows and the Classic Mac OS, with an OS X version expected later this year. ...more