Belgian teen murdered over iPod

A Belgian teenager has been murdered after he refused to hand over his iPod to two youths attempting to rob him. Joe Van Holsbeeck, 17, was stabbed several times in the ticket hall of Brussels' central station in the middle of the afternoon and died several hours later. The Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, said that catching the two perpetrators is 'an absolute priority' for the police. ...more

Sony debuts on the digital SLR stage

Sony has been showing off its Alpha range digital SLR camera to the UK press this afternoon. The Alpha 100 is Sony's first venture into high-end digital photography, but the Japanese giant declares it intends to be battling for market leadership - against the established Canon and Nikon - by 2008. Sony is building on the expertise and technology it acquired from Konica Minolta, which exited the market back in January. ...more

Massive fraud found at government e-portal

The controversial Tax Credit benefits system has been thrown into disarray following the revelations that massive fraud has taken place via the online e-portal. As a result of the discovery the site is currently suspended while investigations take place. Customs and Excise, which manages the Tax Credit Portal, says it has identified and stopped attempts to defraud the government of millions of pounds. ...more

US record industry to sue music swappers

The body that represents the US music industry has announced that it will sue anyone that it discovers has been sharing music files over the Internet. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will be gathering evidence against individual US computer users who are illegally sharing 'substantial amounts' of music from their computers over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks such as Kazaa or Grokster. The organisation believes that its investigation could result in the filing of thousands of lawsuits as soon as August this year. ...more

Novell takes an axe to itself

Novell is to put in place a major restructuring initiative which it claims will save it in excess of $110m, but which also includes a cull of more than 10 per cent of its workforce. The announcement comes on the back of a pair of weak quarters and mounting pressure from investors to make good on its Linux strategy with profits down to $2.1m in its most recent quarter. ...more