Amazon to enter music downloads jungle

Amazon, the leading online retailer of physical CDs, may be about to become the latest entrant into the increasingly crowded downloads market. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has been in talks with record labels about licensing music for a store offering both downloads sales and a subscription service. It has also had discussions with MusicNet, a provider of music store infrastructures for a number of retailers. ...more

Thunderbird 0.7 takes flight

The Mozilla Organisation has released the latest version of its standalone email sofware. As reported yesterday, Thunderbird 0.7 includes performance improvements on all platforms, though pre-binding support gives an extra boost in Mac OS X, multiple identities, improved IMAP support, an extensions Manager and improved junk mail handling. ...more

Microsoft launches no-frills XP Starter Edition for South East Asia

Starting in October, Microsoft is shipping a modified version of Windows XP geared for the Asian markets. Specifically, in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Dubbed Windows XP Starter Edition, it will be available for low-cost desktop PCs from official Microsoft OEM distributors. ...more

CeBIT 2007: Sneak preview

The biggest names in the IT industry are putting the finishing touches to their stands at CeBIT 2007, but our team in Hannover has sneaked on to the show floor to find out what we can expect to see over the coming week. In the consumer and digital entertainment halls there's one big theme this year: high-definition displays. The centrepiece of the Sharp stand is an enormous 108in LCD TV (pictured below), which the company claims is the world's biggest. ...more

Alzheimer's Society scoops DesignIT 2007 prize

This year's DesignIT competition has been won by software designed to help Alzheimer's sufferers. Sponsored by Microsoft, the competition lets IT professionals show their creative side, with charities being the main beneficiaries of possible system designs. Said Dajani's winning entry involved a 'kind of 21st century CB' with a memory prompt tool that would help sufferers remember important facts about their life. ...more