New book range to be sold under 'Open Source' licence

Bruce Perens, one of the founders of the Open Source movement, has taken the concept into the world of e-books. He says he has convinced US publisher Prentice Hall to produce a series of books on technical subjects under the Open Source licence. The idea is that not only can the books be downloaded and read for free, but they can also be modified and 'sold on' in a printed version. ...more

Google betas personal search

Following Google Video - and its searching of video, which we reported yesterday - comes Google's Personalized Search. To be found at www.google. ...more

E-commerce ventures quickly into the black

In a poll of 600 US-based dotcoms and bricks and mortar companies surveyed by researcher IDC, nearly half claimed that their online operations were now profitable. It also revealed that it takes just a year for many companies to turn their e-commerce ventures into money-makers and that the return on investment can be as high as 70 per cent. The respondents said that they are held back from being even more profitable by budgets, skill shortages and weak marketing campaigns. ...more

American praise for UK government's handling of technology

Senior US diplomats have been praising the UK government's handling of technology in private dispatches from the London embassy. They note that the productivity within emerging technology sectors has been channelled to help turn the domestic economy into one of Europe's top performers. The private dispatches of officials at the US Embassy have been obtained by The Guardian, being disclosed under the terms of the US freedom of information act. ...more

Bebo bids for eBay's crown as UK's most searched for brand

The social networking site Bebo is rapidly gaining on eBay as the most searched site in the UK. Since May, the term 'bebo' has ranked second in the share of UK internet searches after 'ebay'. Bebo is the usual combination of blogs, music and pictures along the lines of other social networking sites. ...more