Poland puts a spanner in the EU adoption of software patents

A decision about the adoption of software patents as EU legislation was put on hold today with an eleventh hour dash from Poland. A draft proposal that could quite easily have allowed the broad patenting of software was due to be rubber stamped today when the Agricultural Council met today. However, Poland's minister of Information Society and Technology, Wlodzimierz Marcinski, turned up personally to the meeting to request that the proposed Directive be withdrawn from the agenda. ...more

Apple issues MacBook firmware update

Apple has released a firmware update that addresses unexpected shutdowns on MacBook portables. The update improves the MacBook's internal monitoring system and is recommended for all MacBook systems, including those that received warranty repair. The SMC Update improves the MacBook's internal monitoring system and addresses issues with unexpected shutdowns. ...more

Broadband dates, Wiltshire, storms

BT has announced dates for a further 34 exchanges to get ADSL broadband. The exchanges and ready-for-service dates are as follows: •, 29 October: Chiseldon. •, 26 November: Abergele, Alrewas, Bollington, Brinscall, Chinley, Cholesbury, Codicote, Denton Burn, Disley, Driffield, Elmswell, Great Harwood, Greenock, Hampton In Arden, Idle, Kennford, Kirkintilloch, Latchingdon, Leuchars, Measham, North Berwick, Pilning, Rearsby, Reepham, Seagry, Seaton, Shere, South Cerney, Stonesfield, Strabane, Tredegar, Wickham Bishops, and Yardley Gobion. ...more

Shuffle makes a splash

The iPod shuffle claimed 43 per cent of the worldwide flash player market in February, Apple said yesterday, quoting figures from NPD Techworld. Its success has boosted Apple's share of the market for all portable music players to around 70 per cent; over 90 per cent of all hard drive players sold are iPods Apple sold over five million iPods in the last three months, its best return yet, but declined to give separate figures for the three varieties. The iPod-compatible iTunes Music Store has between 70 and 75 per cent of the global downloads market. ...more

Itanium chips feature 667MHz FSB

Intel has introduced two versions of its Itanium 2 processors with an enhanced front side bus (FSB) running at 667MHz. Previous versions of the Itanium have been limited to a 400MHz bus. Intel claims (and the maths supports it) that the bandwidth is 65 per cent greater. ...more