Apple launches iTunes store in UK, Germany and France

Steve Jobs today launched the iTunes Music Store for the UK, Germany and France, which accounts for 60 per cent of European music sales. The Apple CEO was in London to announce a flat 79p per song price, with most albums costing ?7.99. ...more

Microsoft struggles to deliver Office 2007 converters

Microsoft has admitted it's still struggling to make Office 2007 compatible with Macs, three months after the official launch of the software. Microsoft has finally released - in beta form - the first of the promised plug-ins that enable Mac versions of Office to open Office 2007 documents. Specifically, those saved in the new Open XML format, which was introduced with the release of Office 2007 for Windows. ...more

AOL users help stem spam flood

New reporting tools block AOL spam. With a daily average of 22 spam messages per account, AOL is no stranger to spam. Even new CEO John Miller admits that the two are almost synonymous. ...more

Bid for new online music rules rejected

The European Parliament has called for binding rules to regulate the bloc's online music market and protect less powerful artists, but the proposal was rejected by the bloc's executive. It was the latest spat in the European Union's tortuous efforts to get agreement in the hotly contested field of intellectual property rights. In October 2005, the EU's Executive Commission published nonbinding guidelines allowing artists to choose which collective rights management society (CRMs) they want handle their online music copyright across Europe. ...more

On the Silk Road - ancient texts archived online

Britain collaborates to create virtual Dunhuang cave of manuscripts Tens of thousands of ancient Chinese manuscripts, paintings and printed documents on paper and silk from the Dunhuang cave have been united online. They come from collections scattered across the globe. The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) includes material from museums in London, Beijing, Paris, St Petersburg, Berlin and New Delhi. ...more