Star Wars: Galaxies - beta bytes

Hands up if you want to beta test Star Wars: Galaxies... ...more

OS X complete

Apple announced today that OS X is complete and the 'gold master' version has been released to manufacturing for production. What this gold master version comprises, however, is less clear, with reports circulating that it may lack support for, amongst others, DVD playback, iTunes and iMovie. In reality, Apple does not need to roll out a fully-featured version as yet, as the large majority of users will continue to rely on OS 9 to do the majority of their work. ...more

MP3 creator begins testing surround-sound version

Germany's Fraunhofer IIS, where the MP3 format was invented, has begun testing a surround-sound version of the audio compression format. MP3 Surround is a multi-channel format that enables 5.1 surround sound for broadcasting, Web-based music distribution, digital audio editing applications and consumer electronics. ...more

Transmeta on the road to IPO

Chip manufacturer Transmeta has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), through which it aims to raise $200m. The company started the ball rolling yesterday by registering a form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing discloses neither the number of shares to be offered nor the proposed price range, and Transmeta has yet to give a date for the IPO. ...more

AOL challenges Freeserve for No 1 spot

The gap closes to 1 per cent, with Freeserve dropping and AOL on the up. Nearly four million households have connected to the Internet in the past year, many of them choosing AOL as their ISP, helping the firm to close the gap with Freeserve. The figures from telecoms regulator Oftel show that the slow down in PC sales hasn't slowed down enthusiasm for the Internet. ...more