MP3 is new political party

Having a good time and putting the fun back into politics are the stated aims of the MP3 party, the latest addition to the UK's political line-up. Despite the implication in its name, the party claims that, 'its aims are not limited to represent and defend the interest of an "MP3-community".' It also, 'intends to pursue much broader political aims that concern the younger generation of Britons,' apparently with policies based on 'the well-developed cybernetic theory of Complex Systems'. ...more

Price is the key for broadband adoption, finds ISPA

Price is still the number one consideration for UK Internet users when choosing a broadband supplier. The UK Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) survey found that just under a third of the 457 people questioned said price was the main consideration. However the fact that broadband prices have fallen considerably over the past couple of years is reflected in the fact that a quarter now consider service performance to be the most important factor. ...more

Symantec to launch phone security software this summer

Symantec has told PC Pro it will be launching smartphone security software this summer. The company will offer anti-virus software for both Symbian and Windows Mobile devices, as part of its Norton 2008 product refresh in late August. The company claims the threat level on mobiles now justifies its own security suite. ...more

Google gives the tools for customised search

Google has launched new tools for creating a customised search engine for specified websites and Web pages. The Google Custom Search Engine lets users choose which pages and websites they want to search, to determine how the content should be prioritised and to format the search results page. While users can choose to restrict their search results to include only certain pages and sites, they can alternatively allocate them a higher priority and ranking within the main Google index. ...more

Gowers considered cutting copyright lifespan

Andrew Gowers has revealed that he considered cutting the 50-year copyright limit on sound recordings in his government-sponsored review of UK intellectual property laws and only decided to recommend that the status quo be retained because it was 'politically prudent' to do so. Gowers told the Out-law podcast that, rather than concede the music industry's demand for longer protection up to 95 years, evidence submitted to the review suggested that there was a strong case for deciding that 50 years is too long. 'We certainly considered it, and if you look at the report that came from the academics that we commissioned to examine the arguments and examine the evidence they also argued very robustly that 50 years could be arguably more than enough,' Gowers said. ...more