Motorola and Apple dial the iTunes phone

Motorola, Apple and US mobile operator Cingular have unveiled the long-awaited 'iTunes phone'. The Motorola ROKR, which initially will be available only in the US, can store up to 100 songs and once the iTunes key has been pressed provide playback via a familiar iPod-style interface on the 176x220 TFT colour display. Music is loaded via USB from iTunes on either a Mac or a PC and much like the iPod shuffle, you can choose the songs you want to hear or let iTunes pick them. ...more

Thomson tracks content copying with DRM watermarks

Thomson, the French-owned electronics company, has announced two new implementations of its NexGuard DRM technology that will encode digital content with the specific identity of the device to which it is downloaded. The process, known as watermarking or fingerprinting, ties the downloaded content to a specific device. One advantage of this to the provider is that if the content is copied for unauthorised use, it is possible to identify the device, and thereby the person, that made the copy. ...more

Billionaire Buffett gives billions to the Gates Foundation

The world's second richest man is giving away money to the world's richest man. To his charitable foundation, to be precise. The billionaire Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is committing himself to give away 85 per cent of his stock holdings, and among his donations will be an annual gift of $1. ...more

Analyst backs Blu-ray

Blu-ray will win the next-generation DVD format war when it begins in earnest next year, according to a report by Forrester Research. Forrester analyst Ted Schadler believes that Blu-ray's chief backer, Sony has learnt the lessons from the failure of its Betamax technology which lost out to VHS in the first battle for the home video market. Rather than rely on the technology alone, he says, Sony has assembled an 'impregnable' collection of partners, from computer makers to content providers. ...more

EMI withdraws from DRM-free downloading talks

EMI has withdrawn from talks about the possibility of selling DRM-free music downloads, after online store operators baulked at the advance payments that the record company was demanding, according to Bloomberg. The business news service says that EMI was asking for the payment to compensate it for the 'risk' of releasing unrestricted MP3s. It claims that operators including Apple, Microsoft and Real Networks had countered with a lower offer, but this was rejected. ...more