Apple's got a brand new PowerBook

A stunning new PowerBook was the climax of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' Macworld Expo keynote speech last night. After all the hype and all the expectation of the past few weeks, Apple has delivered the hardware. The new Titanium G4 PowerBook has, as its name suggests, a titanium casing: the stuff, according to Jobs, "they build airplanes out of". ...more

Hollywood wants tougher iTunes DRM

Hollywood studios want Apple to further restrict the number of devices on which iTunes movies can be played before they will agree to sell their films through the online store. According to the Financial Times, months of talks between Apple and Universal, 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Warner Bros have stalled on this point. Apple currently allows content from Walt Disney - the only studio to have signed up to date - to be played on up to five authorised devices, such as Macs and iPods and, when it is released next year, the 'iTV' wireless television interface. ...more

Apple denies Universal bid

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has released a short statement refuting claims that the company has made an offer for the Universal Music Group, one of the 'big five' recording companies. 'Apple has never made any offer to invest in or acquire a major music company,' said Jobs. 'The press statements this morning attributed to Vivendi [owner of UMG] board member Claude Bebear are untrue, as Mr Bebear has confirmed in a later report. ...more

Trade and Industry Select Committee backs BT and LLU

The House of Commons's Trade and Industry Select Committee has backed the findings of Ofcom's recent Strategic Review of Telecommunications in the UK. The committee agrees with the regulator's two key findings. Firstly that in the absence of investment in new national networks of exchanges independent of BT, local loop unbundling is the best way to increase competition in the wholesale broadband market. ...more

Microsoft unveils unified communications product roadmap

Microsoft has unveiled the latest piece of its grand vision for business applications over the next few years by giving details of its unified communications product roadmap. The strategy is aimed at bringing together the various communications tools currently used in business and supplied by Microsoft including email, IM, VoIP, and audio/video/Web conferencing. The aim is to give users one place where they can check and interact with all their communications, all done with a single identity. ...more