EMI rejects Warner takeover proposal

EMI has rejected an 'inadequate' ?2 billion takeover proposal from Warner Music. The company's board said that the proposed offer is not in the best interest of EMI shareholders, given the 'prolonged regulatory uncertainty' that would ensue, not to mention 'unacceptable operational risk at a critical time'. It also believes that Warner has undervalued EMI, both in terms of the value of EMI itself and in terms of the synergies available from a combination' with Warner. ...more

Adobe unable to find copies in copyright trial

Adobe can't find any proof of illegal activity in test-case copyright trial. In the second day of testimonial in the test-bed trial of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), an Adobe engineer has admitted that the company it hasn't been able to find any illegally copied eBooks made with the ElcomSoft's Advanced eBook Processor program. Another erstwhile Adobe employee, Daryl Spano, testified that while Adobe receives hundreds of tip-offs of pirated material, the company was unable to follow up all of them. ...more

IDF Fall 2003: Home entertainment includes new Intel processor for gamers

'Home is where the business opportunity is' was the gist of a keynote given by Louis Burns, general manager of Intel's Desktop Platforms Group, entitled 'The Digital Home, Vision and Direction. Citing the billions of dollars spent on home improvements and consumer electronics, he said Intel would increasingly target the home networking market. The newest instance of this was the headline-grabbing announcement of a new Pentium 4 processor that is aimed specifically at gamers. ...more

AMD issues flurry of subpoenas to OEMs

AMD has issued a blizzard of subpoenas in the US in an attempt to gather evidence to back up its long running allegations of abuse of monopoly power by Intel. The company has issued fifteen subpoenas to companies throughout the US ranging from the biggest manufacturers including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and IBM through to distributors and retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and Fry's Electronics. Earlier this year AMD issued a lawsuit against Intel naming 38 firms that AMD alleges have been victims of coercion by Intel, including large scale computer-makers, small system-builders, wholesale distributors and retailers, 'through seven types of illegality across three continents. ...more

Tiscali tackles spam

Tiscali UK is launching a Secure Mail service to its users for ?4.99 a year. The ISP says the service has already received 6,500 provisional orders in just four days of advertising the forthcoming service on its portal. ...more