Rational, Borland shares rise amid buyout speculation

Microsoft may make a bid for software company Rational, less than a week since IBM agreed to buy it for $2.1bn. Speculation on Wall Street pushed Rational's share price up by 2. ...more

Norway rules that its Apple iTMS breaks the law

Apple has just two weeks to make changes to the Norwegian iTunes Music Store after the country's Consumer Ombudsman ruled that the music downloads service breaks the law. Responding to a complaint filed by the Consumer Council of Norway in January, the ombudsman, Bj?rn Erik Thon, ruled that iTunes' terms and conditions are 'unreasonable' under Section 9a of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act. The ombudsman identified three areas of concern: that the agreement the consumer must give consent to is regulated by English law; that Apple disclaims all liability for possible damage the iTunes software may cause; and that Apple may alter the rights to the music. ...more

Google tops brand beauty poll

Is the Google brand stronger than the Apple brand? According to the latest readers' poll by brandchannel.com, indeed it is. With Google re-taking the crown and with Apple in the runner-up spot, Skype completes the top three brands. ...more

Microsoft deploys Application Center 2000

Microsoft launched its Web application deployment system yesterday at the Internet World Spring 2001 show in Los Angeles. Application Center 2000 [sic] is based on the use of Web clusters, or "Web farms" - rather than a monolithic central server - to manage "capacity on demand". That is to say, it automatically adds server capacity where the need is identified, and it makes adjustments to manage infrastructure failures. ...more

AMD results cast shadow

AMD has revealed the scars of its pricing battle with Intel in its latest quarterly results. It reports an operating loss of $504 million and a net loss of $611 million. Despite revenue for the first quarter (ending 31 March) being $1. ...more