Microsoft to digitise 100,000 British Library books for MSN service

Microsoft is working with the British Library to digitise 100,000 books and make them available online as part of its MSN Book Search service. To avoid the legal problems that have dogged Google Print in this field, the collection comprises out-of-copyright books from the 19th century and earlier, approximately 25 million pages worth of content. More books are promised to follow, but a spokesperson for the British Library insisted they would also be out-of-copyright works. ...more

$100 laptops lined up for February test pilot

Children in developing countries will get the first $100 laptops as early as February. The first computers, from the One Laptop Per Child project, will be test machines, with volumes building towards an official launch in July 2007. The XO laptop is currently expected to cost around $135 to produce, although MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, who leads the project, forecast that that figure could drop to $50 once real volumes are established. ...more

Google says how it'll splash the R&D cash

Google is planning to invest around 70 per cent of this year's R&D cash in improving it's existing search and advertising business. In a conference call with analysts CEO Eric Schmidt said whilst Google's ad services were popular with medium sized businesses it needed to do better with large accounts and smaller businesses. To improve its services to larger companies, Google has already expanded its direct sales force and put in place better tracking procedures. ...more

Google attacked for 'hostility to privacy'

Google has an 'entrenched hostility to privacy', according to new report. The Web search leader's commitment to consumer privacy came under fire from Privacy International, a group that has previously singled it out for criticism. The London-based group released a report on Saturday entitled 'A Race to the Bottom - Privacy Ranking of Internet Service Companies'. ...more

Napster shuts down its old ways

The file sharing system Napster has effectively shut down its systems and disabled all old versions of its software, leaving users with no service. It is reworking its software to allow for special filtering, as it moves towards a subscription-based service for later in the year. The Napster. ...more