Google probed for video violence

Italian prosecutors on Friday put two Google Italy representatives under investigation as part of an inquiry into how a video of teenagers harassing an autistic classmate surfaced on its Video site, a judicial source said. The two are being investigated for allegedly failing to check on the content of the video posted on the Internet search engine's Web site. The video, which sparked outrage in the country, showed four teenagers beating and poking fun at a 17-year old disabled boy in a classroom in the northern Italian city of Turin. ...more

Macromedia grows as Allaire goes

Macromedia is to merge with the Allaire Corporation in a transaction valued at approximately $360m. Macromedia is familiar to Web developers for its suite of products that includes Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver Ultra Dev, Fireworks, Freehand and the Flash player. Allaire, however, is less well known. ...more

Record domestic PC shipments in Japan

A Japanese technology association has reported that domestic PC shipments reached record levels in the last half-year of April to September. This is despite more sluggish consumer spending in Japan as a whole. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said 5. ...more

Strong sales of notebooks push worldwide PC sales

Research company IDC is reporting a strong growth in the worldwide shipments of PCs in the second quarter of this year. The company says that growth is a healthy 16.6 per cent that is above its previous forecast. ...more

PC Pro survey reveals Britain's broadband generation is getting restless

A PC Pro survey of over 2,000 readers has revealed that many are unhappy with their current connection speeds, the prices they're paying and the level of customer service they're receiving. This resulted in 17 per cent of PC Pro readers switching to a different supplier during 2004, with a further 16 per cent on the verge. 'That's already a third of the broadband population, but we expect these figures to leap in 2005,' said PC Pro editor, Tim Danton. ...more