W3C approves new PNG graphics format

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - the body responsible for Internet standards - has published PNG Second Edition as a W3C Proposed Recommendation. This is the final stage of approval granted by the standards body. Now a mature format, PNG (pronounced 'ping') was designed to be a portable and lossless way to transmit compressed graphic images across the Internet. ...more

Internet censorship grows around the world

More and more countries are learning how to censor the Internet according to the annual report by Reporters Without Borders. Although the Internet has democratised today's media so that anyone can - in theory - say anything and have their voice heard around the world, dictators and repressive regimes have moved quickly to suppress any dissent. Authoritarian regimes have woken up to the fact that dissidents and others who oppose the workings of the state are very likely to be using modern communications tools such as blogs, email and websites to distribute their messages. ...more

Google spurs Yahoo! email refresh

Yahoo! says it will boost storage for its email services in a bid to take some of the steam out of Google's free 1GB Gmail service. The Yahoo! free mail service jumps from 3MB message and 4MB storage limits to 10MB and 100MB respectively. It has also streamlined its premium paid-for email, which previously ranged from $29. ...more

Microsoft moves to open government Windows

Microsoft has announced a new Government Security Program (GSP) - an initiative to provide government bodies with controlled access to Windows source code. And it is not just the US government involved. Russia and NATO have already signed GSP agreements with Microsoft, and the company is in discussions with 20 other countries. ...more

U2 album may get early iTunes release

The appearance of U2's next album on file sharing networks, two weeks before its official release date, are fuelling rumours that they band may fulfill its promise to release the album early through the iTunes Music Store. Pirated copies of How to Dismantle and Atom Bomb were expected to surface after a rough mix of the record 'disappeared' from a studio in France. At the time lead singer Bono told the Daily Telegraph that if the album appeared on the Internet, 'It would screw up years of work and months of planning, not to mention fucking up our holidays. ...more