Kenwood show off Bluetooth PDA

It seems you can't throw a stick these days without hitting an electronics company touting its latest Bluetooth development. Kenwood has stepped into the fray with its mobile phone-beating PDA. The InfoVendor has an in-built Bluetooth module and is designed for outdoor use. ...more

Internet censorship grows around the world

More and more countries are learning how to censor the Internet according to the annual report by Reporters Without Borders. Although the Internet has democratised today's media so that anyone can - in theory - say anything and have their voice heard around the world, dictators and repressive regimes have moved quickly to suppress any dissent. Authoritarian regimes have woken up to the fact that dissidents and others who oppose the workings of the state are very likely to be using modern communications tools such as blogs, email and websites to distribute their messages. ...more

Microsoft opens doors on new MSN search beta

As we reported yesterday Microsoft is releasing a beta version of its much-trailed search engine. The new search now contains some five billion pages gathered and indexed by Microsoft's own technology rather than using databases from Yahoo and LookSmart as it has in the past. The new search retains the clean design borrowed from Google and early versions of Yahoo! and the structure will be familiar to existing users of MSN Search. ...more

UK families barred from massive Vista discounts

UK families are being denied savings of up to ?400 on Windows Vista, following Microsoft's decision to restrict a new discount scheme to US customers. American families are being offered the chance to buy two additional licences of Vista Home Premium for just $50 (?25) each, when they buy a retail copy of Vista Ultimate. Full retail copies of Home Premium will cost around ?220 in the UK. ...more

Anti-Apple EU action over competition not clear cut

Legal opinion appears to be divided over whether the European Commission will tackle Apple for alleged anti-competitive practices. While individual countries have raised concerns about Apple's refusal to allow devices other than its own iPods to play songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, the EU has so far kept its counsel. The reason, suggests Bernhard Warner, Columnist at The Times Online, is that the EU may not yet have grounds for an investigation. ...more